


Sigh, Teenagers

by Selantro



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Confusion, Crushes, Denial of Feelings, Drama & Romance, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Gryffindor Reader, Kissing, Malfoy being a Bratty teen, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Pining, Puberty, Slow Burn, Teenagers, Triwizard Tournament, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, introvert reader, teenagers being dumb
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:27:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 56,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25375396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selantro/pseuds/Selantro
Summary: A story in which a introverted, ordinary girl comes back one summer having been smashed by the train they call puberty. Y/N L/N is unused to the attention and unwillingly finds all eyes on her. Accidentally having boys falling left and right for her is hard enough, but how is she supposed to deal with her best friends falling hard. Better yet, how is she going to deal with her enemy by association and the school's heart throb pining after her too?
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Reader, Draco Malfoy/Reader, Fred Weasley/George Weasley/Reader, Fred Weasley/Reader, George Weasley/Reader, Harry Potter/Reader, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 77
Kudos: 671





	1. World Cup Pt. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of the movie because frankly, I don't have time to reread the book and I'm just trying to vibe out here. Obviously, not everything is going to be completely canon. I'll try my best to keep the characters as much like themselves as possible. For the most part, I will be attempting to stick to what I remember from the books. So I'm sorry if I accidentally give you whiplash from the book to movie switches.Also, please excuse any accidental switches from 2nd to 3rd pov. I don't usually write in 3rd person pov.
> 
> ~Obviously I do not own any of the characters or plot. That right goes to Jk Rowling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N has just arrived at the Burrow after a long vacation in America, where she seemed to have changed.

The world was quiet as one Y/N L/N approached the looming building loving dubbed "The Burrow." Most normal people had yet to wake while the sun rose inch by inch over the trees surrounding the land,but Y/N had special plans that required her awake; much to her dismay. No birds were to be heard at the slowly approaching dawn, only the light pads of worn sneakers on the dirt road. 

The gloomy, almost grayish morning should've seemed eerie to the young L/N who had only neared the whimsical structure just a minute ago, but she was more than elated to be there. The Weasley abode was something akin to a second home to her, having spent a good bit of the summer after the first Hogwarts term with her best friends at the Burrow. Y/N may have visited that year to see Harry and Ron, but she stayed for the sweet ginger lady who was currently eyeing the young girl through her kitchen window. 

Y/N was a second away from knocking on the aged door before her favorite Weasley nearly threw it open into her face. "Good morning Y/N dear. Come in, come in, you must be cold," the woman rushed cheerily as she ushered the slightly surprised girl into her home. 

"Morning, Mrs. Weasley, how have you been?" the H/C haired girl greeted politely. 

"Oh just fine. My my Y/N you've grown since the last time I've seen you. Must be that American air," Mrs. Weasley noted as she pinched the girl's cheek. "Now, Hermione's just arrived. Go wake up the boys would you? Breakfast is ready. Those boys, always sleeping in!" 

With a quick nod, Y/N was sent up the the several, winding sets of stairs into the very top floor of the Burrow. The trek was just the slightest bit unnerving for the girl for she hadn't seen her best friends since the end of term. Although she attempted to write as much as possible, sending an owl over the Atlantic ocean over and over again seemed just a tad bit cruel. Finally, she reached the top landing, where the "sleeping beauties" were just about waking up. 

The commotion was could be heard from the narrow hallway, and it was very clear that Hermione was wrecking havoc on the slumbering boys. Just the way Y/N liked it. Excitedly, she stuck her head through the side of the doorway before entering the room with a large grin on her face. "Hey guys." 

"Y/N! When'd you get here?" Hermione asked.

"Just now." Y/N said. "You alright Harry?" she added, now turning her attention to the frazzled looking boy. His emerald eyes were widened and he was staring at her with a look of bewilderment on his face. 

"It's-It's nothing," He lied. Frankly, Harry had not seen his friend in while but she definitely looked different from the last time he had talked face to face with her. He knew his memory was not nearly as horrible as Neville's but he had the fainted recollection of a rather plain looking E/C-eyed, H/C haired girl, and not the one standing in front of him right now. The boy wouldn't have gone as far as to think that she was abducted by perhaps a horde of cornish pixies only to be replaced by a better, more mature looking version of herself, but the thought had undeniably crossed his mind.

"Blimey Y/N, you look different," Ron commented, being the ever so blunt boy that he was.

"So I've been told," the girl hummed, already thinking back to what his mother had said just minutes ago. "Anyways, get dressed. I'd rather not be late because of your beauty sleep."

Y/N and Hermione left the bedroom and began talking about her summer in New York with her aunt Mildred. They'd been in a deep conversation about Y/N's visit to a particular muggle museum when the two girls ran into the two runners up for Y/N's "Favorite Weasley" award (Although she would never admit it to anyone but herself.)

A grin spread on the twins' faces as they laid eyes on their missed partner in crime. "Y/N," they said at the same time. How the two managed to stay so perfectly in sync was a complete mystery to the girl, but it was certainly satisfying to hear and she missed it very much. 

"Took you long enough," George teased. 

"Thought we'd have to fly all the way to New York just to get you to come back," Fred continued, leaning over to ruffle their younger friend's H/C locks. 

"Oh shut up you two. You're so dramatic."

"Only for you Y/N," the twins replied smoothly as they draped their lanky arms around the girl's shoulder. They only received a playful eye roll in return. 

"I'll go get Ginny," Hermione said before excusing herself from the group. 

The trio shrugged and continued down the stairs. "Seriously, George and I were just about ready fly when mum woke up in the middle of the night to go to the loo."

"Yeah, threatened to take away our brooms all summer." 

"Wouldn't have stopped us anyways. Our second plan was to mail ourselves to you using that muggle service, but mum thought we were being too suspicious."

Y/N rolled her eyes at the antics but smiled nonetheless. She could expect nothing less from the two eccentric gingers. "I would've mailed you right back to your mum," she countered. 

"How cruel, we thought we were your favorite," they chimed. 

"Your mum's my favorite Weasley cause she feeds me. Learn to cook and we'll talk about it."

Said Weasley matriarch was waiting by the dining table by the time the trio arrived at the bottom of the stairwell. Unbeknownst to the L/N, the woman was quite pleased to see her two troublemaker sons approaching with their arms still draped languidly across the young teen's shoulder. A knowing grin made its way onto the mother's face. She wouldn't be too opposed to welcoming the L/N into the family, but she was getting ahead of herself. 

The three teens settled on the seats and began to devour their breakfast with excitement. Almost as if eating their food faster would bring them to the Quidditch world cup faster. It certainly felt that way. Especially, when they were joined seconds later by Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione, most of which looked dead tired.

"Mornin," the twins greeted. 

After the rest of the teens quickly scarfed down their breakfast, the two Weasley parents entered the kitchen. One Molly Weasley was making sure to pack all of the needed items into her husband's bag whilst muttering about how "You can never been too sure."

"Mornin' kids. Must get going now. tick tok tick tok," he ushered, sending the teens into a scramble to get outside. Fred and George were the first to go seeing as they were the most excited. After the twins came the three girls, who were already chatting amicably about the upcoming Quidditch world cup. Unsurprisingly, Ginny was most enthusiastic as she was the biggest quidditch fan out of the trio. Hermione and Y/N on the other hand, were just happy to be able to experience an event like this. 

A bit of a ways behind the main group, trudged Harry and Ron, still groggy from their precious, interrupted sleep. Better yet, the sun had still not fully risen, casting an somber, grayish tint across the forest they were traveling through. The boys merely stared at the back of the girls' heads blankly as they talked. 

"I don't get it," Ron stated suddenly.

"Get what?" Harry asked.

"How they wake up this early and still stay energetic. Bloody hell even Y/N's up and at it. And she doesn't wake up on the weekends until one in the afternoon usually," Ron whined. 

"Don't suppose she's been replaced do you?" Harry added, already giving into Ron's strange ranting. 

"Wouldn't be surprised. I mean look at her. She's even prettier than Hermione," The ginger blurted. 

"Yeah she is," The black haired boy replied absentmindedly as he watched his female friend run a hand through her luscious H/C locks. Since when did Harry start thinking of Y/N's hair like this? Was it normal to stare at his friend so long and think she was pretty? And wait a second did Ron just call Hermione pretty?

"Wait what?" Ron asked, not expecting this type of answer from his friend.

"Huh what?" Harry replied dumbly, only then realizing his slip. "Oh never mind that, where are we actually going?" He asked in order to change the subject, and of course because they had been walking through the woods a bit aimlessly for the past ten to twenty minutes. 

"Don't know," Ron replied. "Hey Dad!" He called, catching the attention of everyone ahead of him. "Where are we going?"

"Haven't the foggiest!" Arthur shouted back. "Keep up."

Per his instruction, the two boys jogged up to the group and settled right behind the girls. "Took you two long enough. Thought we'd lose you to some wolves or something if you'd been any slower," Y/N teased before casually slinking her arms through Ginny's as they walked.

About another ten minutes into walking, the wizards and witches walked into a sort of clearing; minus the large gnarled tree that stood proudly in the middle. Beside the tree stood a man. Y/N had to hop a few times just to see over the twins' shoulders. "Who's tha-" 

"Arthur!" The man yelled, interrupting Y/N's barely formed question. "It's about time, son," he continued as he approached. By now, Y/N could see the large backpack and cane he sported. 

"Sorry Amos, some of us had a sleepy start," Arthur answered, looking back at the two soon to be fourth years still trailing a bit behind the group. "This is Amos Diggory everyone. Works with me, at the ministry," he introduced.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, landed a very handsome young man with a thump. "And this strapping young lad must be Cedric am I right?" he continued. Of course every single boy and girl currently attending Hogwarts knew of the dashing young Hufflepuff that was Cedric Diggory.

After quickly recovering from that bit of shock - of course who wouldn't be shocked when a boy suddenly jumps out of a tree without your knowledge of him being there in the first place- the girls threw each other a knowing look. Even Hermione, who rarely ever stuck her nose out of a book whenever her friends weren't around, had to admit; Cedric was one handsome man. Y/N especially, had been ogling the pretty boy until Ginny nudged her rib and smirked at her. "Oh shut up," the girl laughed as pushed the ginger girl's face away and started walking once again.

~

Y/n couldn't tell if it was because the distance was shorter or she was less bored, but they arrived at their destination in no time. For a second, the girl was wildly confused why there were no qudditch related anything in sight. Harry seemed to be in the same boat as her when he stopped next to the girl to stare incredulously at a single boot.

"Why are they standing around that manky old boot?" Harry questioned. 

"No idea," Y/N mumbled before walking up to the aforementioned object. She settled beside none other than good ol Cedric who flashed her a charming smile. "H-hi," she greeted shyly. Merlin, there was just something about that dashing smile that had her knees week. Good thing she was already close to the ground, cause she would not have survived an encounter standing up. 

"Hi, Y/N right? Nice to meet you." 

"Mhm, you too." By now, everyone including Harry had their hand on some part of the shoe. "So any idea what this is?" she asked. 

"It's a port key."

"Port key? What's a port key?"

The Hufflepuff was unable to answer before his father cut in and began counting down rather loudly. All he could afford was a sort of apologetic look in return for the young girl's slightly panicked one. Really, countdowns can be stressful when you don't know what they're for. But what's the worst that could happen? You get flung out of the sky?

Y/N really should've expected this by now. Magic was magic and it was unpredictable. Like when the boot seemed to warp the world all at once just to send the party spinning in circles in the middle of god knows where. From whatever blur of blue she could make out, Y/N could only guess they were ripping through the sky like madmen. 

If Y/N could guess who the madmen were, she'd settle on the adults of the group, who were laughing merrily at the roller coaster of a travel method. "Let go kids!" the ginger yelled. He received a rather frightened "What?!" from none other than Hermione. 

Eventually, Y/N's friends let go and seemed to be sucked out of the air and sent hurtling towards the ground. The charming brunette gave her reassuring look, which the girl begrudgingly accepted. After shutting her eyes, Y/N too released herself from the portkey and felt her stomach flip over and over as she plunged toward the ground. 

In the flash of an eye, one L/N came crashing back down onto the Earth with a thump that winded her more than she would ever like to experience again. Except the so called Earth was much squishier and bonier than she thought. The "Earth" groaned from underneath the girl who then realized she had fallen on none other than Harry Potter.

"Sorry," she wheezed breathlessly before rolling onto the ground. From the grass, The two watched as Cedric, Amos, and Arthur fluttered to the ground as if they were walking on air. ' 'Lucky,' She thought to herself bitterly. 

Promptly after the brunette Hufflepuff landed on the ground, he strode up to the girl on the ground. It was a bit shocking for Y/N when the most popular and attractive student at Hogwarts outstretched his hand for her to take. After all, Y/N L/N was quite used to being the most overlooked of all her friends, and here was the most sought after boy in school purposefully offering her a hand. Or maybe Y/N was over thinking this entire scenario and Cedric was just being nice. But that just goes full circle back to Cedric being completely and utterly attractive. 

Gladly, she let the older boy help her up. After all, it wasn't every day she got to talk to Cedric Diggory. "I think I hate port keys," she muttered, recalling the conversation just a minute ago. To which the brunette chuckled. 

"Y'know we're going to have to take the portkey back home after the world cup," he teased. 

Y/N didn't even need to reply because her scrunched up, unsatisfied face did all the talking for the girl. She would've replied with something about how she'd rather walk all the way back to the Burrow rather than take a port key, but Mr. Weasley was already hurrying the kids along. A bit reluctantly, Y/N rejoined Ginny, who wiggled her thin brow at the older girl. Y/N barely felt guilty for swatting at the ginger girl's shoulder.

Once over the little hill, the sight before everyone was breathtaking. By now, the sun had finally shown itself, basking the camp ground in it's warm rays. Wizards and witches of all shapes and sizes swarmed around, enjoying themselves. A cute Irish jig even seemed to be coming from an unknown source from within the grounds. A decently equal amount of Irish and Bulgarian flags peeked out from within the crowd, thus showing whose allegiances lied with which team.

The party entered the crowd with a doubled amount of enthusiasm as heads whipped left and right to point out knick knacks and magical doings. All the while, the Weasley patriarch was trying his best not to lose the teens in the crowd. Particularly the girls, who couldn't stop oohing and awing at the sights. 

~

Once gathered in the tents, the group spent an awfully long amount of time wrecking havoc in it. The first few minutes were filled with shouts from Mr. Weasley trying his best to maintain order. From the girls who's first idea was to chase each other around the tent to Ron who was already raiding the kitchen to the twins who were simply lounging with their feet on the table. Then there was the business of the twins attempting to convince their father to allow Y/N to dorm in the boys' side of the tent for the night. Arthur knew they'd be too much trouble if he let Y/N participate in whatever nefarious business the twins were cooking up so he had to say no. 

Lunch passed by extra quickly for the teens who stuffed their faces almost twice as fast as when they ate breakfast. In no time, everyone save for Mr. Weasley was preparing for the match. Whether it be with comically large hats or simply their team colored scarves. 

Y/N herself was decked with a warm white and green scarf that resembled a certain serpent house's color just a bit too much. Of course this was on the insistence of the twins who had to go above and beyond to support the Irish. So much so that they had roped Y/N into painting their faces with audaciously eye catching colors.

At the moment, Y/N was sat across a slouching Fred, who was trying his best to get within range of the girl, who was quickly becoming tired of holding the paint brush up. You'd think that holding a wand for nearly three years would have made the girl's arm stronger but she rarely used magic unless absolutely needed. Just another "quirk" that made Y/N even more boring. 

"Fred stop moving or I will get paint into your eyes. Then you won't be able to watch the match," the girl scolded. "Ugh, you're hair's in your face, George go get my pins," she commanded.

"And I'm supposed to know where they are?" George said. The boy received an unamused look, which only served to make him grin. "Only joking, I'm on it." 

A moment later, the tall boy reentered the room with a handful of tiny buttery pins. "I'm not wearing those," Fred protested. 

"Aww really, I think they'd look cute on you. Don't you agree Georgie?" She teased. 

"You look strapping, Freddie," George joked. 

"Yeah yeah you git, come on now." 

The room fell silent as Y/N pinned the boy's long, ginger hair away from his face and dipped her brush in the small jar of green paint. Slowly, she began to trace the outline of what would be a giant shamrock over the twin's face. She began filling in the space and then filled in the rest of his face with white paint until she reached a slight problem area. 

"Stay still would ya, and close your eyes. Don't open them until I tell you to," she instructed as she scooted so close to the boy that there was less than a foot in between them. In a bit of a surprise to Fred-who was rarely ever surprised-, his friend gently grabbed onto his chin and tilted his head towards hers. 

For the first time probably his life, Fred Weasley felt a bit flustered by a girl. And his best friend nonetheless. Both he and George knew that Y/N had changed over the summer. She seemed more confident and sassy, and they liked that difference very much. But not only did her demeanor change, so did her appearance. She'd lost that childhood baby fat that gave way to more defined features, gotten much smoother skin, and wow had her eyelashes always been this long? Every tiny detail was becoming blatantly clear when he was staring at her from up close. 

"Hey didn't I tell you to close your eyes," she reminded, raising a nicely trimmed brow. 

Fred obliged and closed his eyes. He was glad he no longer needed to stare into those deep E/C pools. Instead, everything felt much more sensitive to the teen. Y/N's touch had always been gentle. So gentle to the point where he barely missed her fingers parting from his chin. The only way he caught on was by the absence of warmth on his face.

The Weasley opened his eyes to see a wonky grin on his friend's face. "You look ridiculous," she said.

"Brilliant!" 

Fred's spot was soon replaced with George, who was already eyeing the small pile of clips in Y/N's hand. " We can do without them," he insisted. 

"I suppose. Since you're not doing your full face like Fred." Inwardly, George gave himself a high five for avoiding the same tease worthy fate as his identical sibling.

"Kids! we'll be out soon," Mr. Weasley shouted from somewhere within the tent. 

"Better hurry," Fred warned. 

"Mhm," the girl replied before grabbing a hold of the younger twin's devilishly sharp jaw to angle his cheek towards her. With a quick swipe of the paint brush in both green and white, Y/N was done with the face paint. 

Y/N promptly stood up to leave the twin's temporary room, but stopped when she saw them exchanging a look she knew all to well. Before she knew it, she was no longer on the floor, but dangling between the twins who had both picked her up by her arms. She kicked her feet and wiggled against their arms. "What're you doing? We gotta go," she whined. 

"Stop moving or your shamrocks won't be shamrocks," George commanded.

"Yeah wouldn't want them to end up looking like something else," Fred inserted playfully.

The girl only pouted in return. "I hate you guys," she said, albeit insincerely. 

"No you love us," the boys asserted. Carefully, they each dipped their thumbs into the jar of paint and made three little green spots and an additional swipe of paint on both her cheeks. Finally, they released the girl and started walking out. "Well what are you waiting for?"

~

"I thought you weren't going to paint your face cause you weren't interested in Quidditch," Hermione rambled as she continued descending the dozens upon dozens of stairs up to wherever their seats may be.

Y/N shrugged. "I'm not. Those two twits made me. I thought they'd painted willies on my face."

"Would've looked just as dashing," Fred said from in front of the girl. He promptly earned a slap to the shoulder that had him and his twin dashing up the steps laughing like children. 

"Blimey dad. How far up are we?" Ron asked at some point long into the climb. Mr. Weasley stopped at the landing to talk to his son, but turned once a voice cut through. The four fourth years were only able to tell who the malicious voice belonged to once they themselves arrived. Immediately, the mood seemed to dull.

"Well put it this way. If it rains, you'll be the first to know," Lucius Malfoy jeered from below them. Harry and Y/N immediately spotted the crestfallen faces of Ron and his father, who had taken this insult to heart. Fred and George elected to ignore the harsh words and keep moving, while everyone else stayed glued to the spot. 

A very noticeable frown appeared on Y/N's face as she caught sight of the young Malfoy approaching the railing with a mocking look on his face. Why must Draco Malfoy of all people be blessed with attractiveness. Why must he look so good in that all black suit? Y/N just wanted to smack the living daylights out of the Slytherin's pretty face and give him a piece of her mind. 

If he hadn't been her enemy just by her association with the golden trio and the Weasleys, she wouldn't have felt so bad for thinking he looked good in his suit. But this isn't a perfect world, and she really did think he looked smashing. Until he opened his mouth and soiled his lips with whatever bull he would bring up. 

"Father and I are in the minister's box. By personal invitation of the minister himself," he bragged. 

Y/N rolled her eyes and slammed her hands on the rails. "Shut up Malfoy. We don't care," she spat unexpectedly. All eyes were now on the girl who glaring furiously at the blonde. Although she appeared to be fuming, the girl was really just annoyed to have encountered the bully on a day that was supposed to be fun. 

No one had seen or even imagined this behavior from the usually passive girl. Especially Draco, who had made it a point to blatantly ignore the Gryffindor in the past. Somehow, it was worse to have the Slytherin ignore her entire existence than to have him hurl insults at her. It was like he couldn't even bother to acknowledge the girl. 

Things were different now. The spotlight was on Y/N L/N now, and Draco couldn't take his eyes off of her. He'd never seen this fierceness in the girl and it was, dare I say, attractive. 

Malfoy opened his mouth to speak, but the words never came. If he threw an insult at the girl, she would finally have what she'd been missing for the past three years; a presence. So Draco bit back, resorting to gawking at the girl who smirked at her mini victory. 

Harry didn't quite like the way that his sworn enemy was ogling at his best friend and made a move to grab her hand and lead her away. Admittedly, the boy felt a bit of pride at how he had something that Malfoy didn't; Y/N. From the sound of Lucius scolding his son for staring, the teens knew that Y/N's relation to Draco was going to change dramatically. 

Y/N didn't know it either, but her relationships with all the boys were about to change drastically. For the worse? maybe. For the better? Who knows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would've made the world cup one chapter, but the pacing would've been wack. Yes canon divergence. I'm just picking and choosing details that fit my fan fiction best.


	2. World Cup Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N's fun night gets cut short with the appearance of death eaters.

Malfoy was right about one thing. Their seats were in the highest row possible, but that was the best part. They saw everything, heard everything, and loved every moment of it. The twinkling lights, the fireworks, the screaming. It was bliss even for a typical introvert like Y/N.

The girl eventually joined the crowd with her own whoops and cheers. No one had ever witnessed Y/N this loud before, but they couldn't blame her. The excitement was just infectious and she loved every second of it. The entire match was spent leaning over the railing to get a closer look at the tiny figures zooming by. The twins' yelling and pointing really helped Y/N focus in on which players to watch through the whirlwind of speeding brooms. Eventually, she settled on observing the Irish chaser, whom Fred dubbed, Moran.

The match was wonderful as expected. So wonderful that it seemed to end in the blink of an eye, leaving nothing but cold, wind bitten skin in its wake. And of course the memories that accompanied the match were filled with chants and flashing lights. 

Ron wouldn't stop gushing about the Bulgarian seeker, Viktor Krum, the entire walk down the stairs. Y/N had the unfortunate luck of being stuck behind "Krum's biggest fan", who kept turning around every once in a while to check if she was still listening. The girl didn't have the heart to shoot down his yammering; although she really wanted to. 

She pulled a strained smile after Ron checked in with her for the tenth time that night just to talk about how majestic of a flyer Krum was. Once Ron retreated to watch where he was stepping, she too pivoted to talk to Harry, who had been behind her. "Care to switch? I'm not equipped to talk Quidditch with Ron," Y/N asked quietly, making sure that the red head could not hear. 

"Yeah, sure..Um.." Harry replied whilst staring at the girl. 

"What?" she asked, eyebrows crinkled.

"You've got a bit of-" He paused to pick something off the very top of her head, "confetti."

"Oh thanks, um...Go on ahead," she said. Rigidly, she moved to press her back into the railing so that Harry could pass through in the narrow space. The boy gulped and squeezed past Y/N in a bit of an awkward moment. 

It was really hard for them not to think of it as anything but awkward. What with so little space between the two, and the fact that neither teen would make eye contact with the other. Sure, they had been close before, hiding under Harry's invisibility cloak in the dark, but never face to face. 

"Well...Um...Suppose we should catch up then," she suggested.

"Yeah," he replied, still staring dumbly at her. 

~

This act was probably one of the most dimwitted things Y/N had ever seen the twins do, and that was saying a lot. As soon as they arrived back into the tent, the twins were flitting about their younger brother and singing in a pitch that she could never have guessed was within their vocal range. The girl did eventually settle down next to Hermione, and even tapped along to whatever tune they were chirping. It certainly masked away the loud scuffle that sounded from outside the tent.

"There's no one like Krum!" Ron declared, stepping up to defy his Irish-loving brothers. 

"Krum?!" Fred mocked. "Dumb Krum!"

"He's like a bird, the way he rides the wind," Ron maintained. 

Ron's poetically lovesick statement triggered the boys' "Dimwit mode." Sadly, this mode consisted of flapping their long arms ridiculously and swarming around their younger brother, chanting "Krum, Krum, Krum!" over and over again. Y/N and Hermione simply watched the amusing yet absurd scene as if they were spectating a comedy during the sixteenth century. 

"He's more than an athlete! He's an artist," Ron stated indignantly, only to get a flag thrown over his head in return.

Ginny entered the bit and made it a priority to jab at Ron by suggesting that he was in love with the Bulgarian seeker. The room filled with laughter as Fred bent down on one knee and began belting out a dramatic number to accompany Ron's declaration of undying love.

George threw a nearby pillow at his younger brother who then launched it back at him with twice as much force. As expected, a pillow fight sparked between the two. Wanting to join in on the fun, Y/N picked up the cushion behind her and chucked it at the gingers. 

It didn't land on Ron, but it didn't land on George either. Instead, the fluffy pillow knocked the one out of George's hand. The tall boy looked at Y/N in an almost accusing manner. "Hey! whose side are you on?" 

"No one sir, my allegiance is with myself," she jived, nearly bursting into a fit of giggles along the way. 

"Then I suppose you are my enemy," he played along. 

"I suppo- Hey!" She squealed, just barely avoiding a pillow to the face. Y/N may have accidentally started a war she could not win, but she wouldn't go down without a fight. She picked up the fallen cushion and charged at the older boy with intent to battle. 

The poor girl caught onto the twins' mischievous looks a second too late to act, so she took two pillows to the shoulder and had a flag thrown over her head as a result. Y/N wriggled herself out of the green and white fabric and shot the two boys a playful glare. 

"That wasn't fair," she pouted, throwing her pillow at Fred's face. 

"While your allegiances lay with yourself, Fred and I make a brilliant team," George said. 

"Although, we'd make an even better alliance if you'd join forces," he suggested, staring right into Y/N's eyes as if trying to communicate telepathically. Luckily for the twins, Y/N occasionally shared the same brain cell as the troublemakers and caught onto the idea.

The girl wasn't exactly sure what the plan was, so she took a leap of faith. Quite literally. With a mini prep jump, Y/N launched herself onto the back of one unsuspecting, Ron Weasley. The twins shared a look of surprise for a second before also springing into action. 

"Hey, what er' you doing!?" the victim shouted as he tried to pry off the girl, who was gripping onto his neck like a koala and trying (unsuccessfully) to bring him to the ground. Luckily for the twins, though unluckily for him, Ron was too preoccupied with fighting off Y/N to protect himself from the torrent of attacks from their cushions. "What'd I do? I thought you guys were fighting each other!"

"We were, but you're still in love with Krum!" George hollered playfully. 

Out of nowhere, a loud bang accompanied by screams were heard outside the tent. Except, there had been shouts for the last few minutes already. It was merely drowned out by the the noise of the teens being dimwits. 

Fred ceased his strikes to approach the opening. "Seems like the Irish have got their pride on," he remarked rather incorrectly. 

"Stop! Stop it!" Arthur Weasley yelled, reemerging through the tent flap and shattering the lighthearted atmosphere. "It's not the Irish," he voiced. They could all tell that this was serious business. Y/N lowered herself from her perch on Ron's back and stopped smiling. Arthur grabbed Ginny's arm and shouted," We have to get out of here. Now!"

Everyone hurried to the opening to see what the big commotion was about. There was chaos from every direction. Spells were being thrown. Fire was raging on somewhere in the distance, crawling ever nearer and bringing destruction with every lick of its unforgiving flame. Smoke rose into the air, polluting the atmosphere. Scores of people were running for their lives in every which way.

The night was supposed to be filled with wonder and amusement; with heads turning left and right in awe. But instead, panicked E/C eyes were darting everywhere, attempting to take in and process as much information as possible. If the whooshing of spells flying by was any indication, Y/N would say they were under attack. 

And then she saw them; the hooded dark wizards chasing terrified innocents around and launching dangerous charms every direction possible. Y/N was paralyzed in fear. They were in danger and they needed to get out fast if they wanted to get home safely and intact. 

"Get to the port key! And stick together!" Mr. Weasley shouted. "Fred. George. Ginny is your responsibility. I'll see what I can do." Then, he brandished his wand and ran off.

Y/N tried to stick with them. She really did. But she just couldn't keep up. The girl was being swarmed by all sides by witches and wizards who were just as panicked, if not more, as she was. Everything was but a blur of passing images. She was alone, tired, and afraid. it was truly ungryffindor-like of the girl to be scared, but special circumstances call for special reactions. 

First, Y/N needed to get to the portkey. But everything was so confusing, and there were no longer any clear indicators or landmarks to guide her. Their tent had been somewhere roughly in the middle of the grounds, so she definitely could've chosen any direction to go in that was opposite of the dark entities, but that was just asking to get lost. Speaking of dark entities, the ministry officials didn't seem to be fending off the dark wizards well, and that would be a problem if she didn't leave soon. Her only option at the moment was to keep moving.

Out of nowhere, the tent a few feet to her right exploded into flames. Heads turned. Then shrieks of terror followed. And then Y/N was being suffocated by the stampede. No one wanted to be the next victim. No one was in their right mind. Only thoughts of panic and retreat were coursing through people. As a result, the young girl that had tripped and had been knocked onto the floor was going by unnoticed.

It was clear that the approaching dark wizard made eye contact with the helpless girl on the ground by the way they strode towards her. After all, a lone, young girl was a perfect victim. Except, Y/N wasn't entirely defenseless. She was a witch after all. Not as talented as Hermione, but still a witch nonetheless. 

The girl extracted her wand from her back pocket as fast as she could. Y/N would have cheered at it for not breaking during the fall, had it not been for the looming danger. The wizard's hand twitched, ready to cast a charm. Y/N beat the man to the punch and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" The girl only stayed to make sure the wizard was properly disarmed before scurrying to her feet and making a mad dash to safety.

The newfound adrenaline that pumped through her veins had her weaving through the crowd with much more ease than before. The wizard had probably picked up his weapon by now and began chasing after her too. She didn't know this person and whether or not they were the type to hold a grudge, but she did not want to find out. 

As she slowed down upon reaching a heavily populated section, possible spells began racing through her mind. If she was caught, she had to be ready. Merlin! Why were all the spells she knew basically useless?! What would she do if they were up close!? Unlock him?She only knew the basic dueling spells, and she was sure he'd be prepared for it the second time through. How was she supposed to beat an adult?

Suddenly, a pressure was placed on her left shoulder. A hand to be exact. "Y/-" Startled, the girl spun around and swung a fist at the unknown person. 

A grunt came out of the person's lips just as Y/N registered their face. "Cedric!" she gasped, bringing a hand to her lips in shock. "I'm so so sorry! There was the dark wizard and I thought he was chasing me and I'm so scared and..." she trailed off. She no longer knew what words to say. And had she been breathing this heavily the entire time?

"It's okay. I saw it. I shouldn't have scared you in the first place. Are you okay?" He asked, eyeing her up and down to check for injuries.

"Yeah," she breathed.

"Where are the rest?"

"Separa-"

An explosion cut of her answer and drew both Y/N's and Cedric's attention to the right. Those hooded men were expanding. Either that or the their duels with the ministry members weren't faring well. Cedric's ocean blue eyes were hardened when she looked back at him. 

The brunette grabbed Y/N's hand and began hurrying through the crowd once more. Y/N had to quickly settle into a pace behind him to keep from slowing the boy down. Maybe it was his vertical gift of height that allowed him to see over people's heads, but he navigated through the swarm perfectly. Y/N was, admittedly, a bit jealous. 

In no time, the two had left the camp ground entirely and were clambering up the hill in the dark. There were fewer wizards and witches around now. That was certain. Most had fled to the nearby woods to hide and others had already started home. 

Yet Cedric and Y/N were still hand in hand when they no longer needed to be. There weren't any clear signs of danger, nor a horde of witches and wizards to separate the two.

It wasn't unpleasant, and neither party minded it very much. It was actually comforting. Cedric's hand encompassing Y/N's was a constant reminder that she was quite literally in good hands and was no longer alone. Y/N's hand in Cedrics was a reminder that he didn't need to be worried that Y/N would slip away and or get injured. It was a Win-win situation (Stan NCT).

The pair finally arrived upon the designated portkey spot. Neither the portkey or Y/N's friends were in sight. Y/N's smaller hand tensed under Cedric's. She began scanning the surroundings and trying to pick up clues. "They should've arrived already...So they probably took that stupid boot with them since we're the only one using it." 

Her companion too surveyed the area. "The woods. They probably took the portkey and hid in the woods until my father and Mr. Weasley could get back to them," he hypothesized.

The realization dawned on Y/N that Cedric must've been much more stressed than she was. After all, his father was out fighting and he too had been alone before finding Y/N. Like a floodgate collapsing, more terrible thoughts invaded her mind. What if they hadn't made it out after all? It must've been horrible for Cedric to go about it alone.

Luckily for Y/N, the Hufflepuff was a good observer. He noticed her growing frown and squeezed her hand reassuringly. The girl looked at him and he flashed that charming heart-fluttering smile at her. "Let's go check the forest. What's the worst that could happen?" He asked. 

"Yeah. That's what I asked myself before getting dropped outta the sky by that bloody portkey," she said. However, her actions didn't stay true to her words as she let the upperclassman lead her into the dark looking forest.

He chucked. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be. It's not your fault." She paused to carefully choose her steps as she crossed a tree's lumpy protruding roots. "But it is my fault for punching you. Again, I'm so sorry," she said.

"It's fine. Really," he assured. 

Y/N slowed to a stop. Cedric ceased walking too and lifted an eyebrow at the girl. Wow that was attractive! "Is it okay if I well um...May I?" She asked nervously. 

"Go ahead," he said. 

Tentatively, Y/N brought a hand up to Cedric's perfectly chiseled face. Her fingers gently ghosted over the newly bruising skin as if she would cause him torturous pain by touching the injury. She wasn't the one sporting a bruise, but she grimaced. 

"Seriously, it's alright," he repeated, guiding Y/N's hand away from his face with his free hand. The two stood facing each other in the dark, both hands' in one another's. "Don't worry about it."

Standing under the moonlight in the middle of nowhere with only a foot between her and the school heart throb was quite unhealthy for Y/N. Especially with how the moonlight illuminated Cedric's twinkling diamond blue eyes. And how intensely he was staring into her soul. And oh Merlin she'd been holding his hand for a while now hadn't she?

She yanked her hands out of his comfortingly warm ones more abruptly than she'd intended and quickly stuffed them into her pockets. A heavy blush spread across her face and she was extremely glad that there was hardly any light to expose her. She broke the eye contact and decided that the tree was now the most interesting thing in the world. 

"Ri-right. We should get going," she sputtered awkwardly, walking away. Cedric merely followed her, feeling just the slightest bit disappointed for some reason. 

Then she heard something. An almost indistinguishable murmur in the distance. "Do you hear that? From over there?" she whispered quickly. 

"Yeah, stay quiet," he instructed before whipping out his wand and nudging the girl behind him. She too produced her wand and stalked forward. 

A bit further, the the murmur had evolved into a hushed conversation. An argument to be specific. From their distance, only a few words could be heard. "Search..No....can't...." Y/N locked eyes with the boy and both teens shrugged. 

"Ginny, you can't go look for them. That's final." 

Y/N was elated. By sheer, dumb luck, she and Cedric had stumbled onto the very people they were searching for. She signaled for the boy to continue and he complied. 

What better way to reintroduce themselves by accidentally stepping on a poorly placed tree branch and snapping it in half. The loud crunch acted as an alarm for the main group, who all pointed their wands at the direction of the sound. 

"Who's there?" She heard Ron say. 

"Lumos," Hermione muttered. Her wand began lighting up a radius of about five feet from the group. 

"Hey guys," Y/N greeted softly as she emerged from the shadows with Cedric by her side. 

"Y/N!" Hermione exclaimed shrilly before running to give her a bone crushing hug. She parted to give the girl a quick once over. "Where were you?! What happened?" she asked rapidly. 

"If I'm being completely honest, I got lost," Y/N laughed. "But it's alright now cause Cedric found me," she added. 

In the blink of an eye, she found herself engulfed in the arms of a particular tall ginger. In another blink, she had wrapped her arms his torso. "Had us really worried for a second ya know," George mumbled before separating from the girl.

Next came Fred, who also nearly suffocated the girl in his hold. Then Ginny who clung onto her like a koala and took a while to let go. And last came Ron, who gave her a tight hug.

But they were missing someone weren't they? "Where's Harry?" Y/N asked. 

"We lost him too," Ron said.

"That's why were were arguing earlier. We were deciding who should go look for you and Harry." Hermione explained.

"Well I'm here now. Why don't the three of us go look for Harry?" Y/N suggested. 

"Are you sure?" Cedric questioned. After all, he was the one who had just escaped peril with Y/N.

"Yeah don't worry. We've got Hermione. And if worst comes to worst, Ron might just make them east slugs for real this time," she joked, earning a high five and a snicker from the twins.

"We've really got to go now, who knows what's happened to Harry," Hermione insisted. 

"See ya," Y/N said as she followed Hermione away from the group who looked extra tense. They just got Y/N back only for her to voluntarily leave and head back into potential danger. Why are teenagers so dumb? Why does Y/N have to be so dumb.

~

The camp ground was unrecognizable. It was nowhere near the thriving party that it had been just that morning. Hell, it wasn't even close to how it was minutes ago when there were still people running around frantically. It was heartbreaking to see how fast things could change and evolve. 

It was desolate. Dark. Eerie. Everything was burnt to ashes. A few support beams may have decorated the visage, but there was no sign of the life that should've been there. Y/N didn't want to say it to Hermione or Ron, but she was terrified. Not of lurking dark wizards or of the utter darkness, but of how absolutely barren it was. 

Nobody was there, and she dreaded that the only bodies they'd stumble upon would be of the the not breathing kind. She didn't want to think of where her best friend may have been, or if he was with one of the deceased. It absolutely couldn't happen. But with every step she took, her hopes plummeted more and more.

"Do you think the ministry's dealt with it?" Ron asked nervously as he scanned the perimeters cautiously. 

"Most likely," Hermione answered. 

Y/N bit on her lip anxiously. It really was hard to see through the thick smoke that plagued the land. She could've sworn she'd seen a figure in the distance, but she wasn't sure if her eyes had simply misinterpreted something else. So she kept her mouth close and kept walking. 

A second later, there was a sort of blast, but it was nowhere nearby. In fact, it was high in the sky, baring its ugly fangs at the world. The picture of a green skull with a snake protruding from it's open jaw shimmered brightly in the nearly pitch black sky like a twisted Aurora Borealis. This couldn't be good in the slightest. 

Hermione's head snapped to the left after hearing scuffling sounds. Y/N swore she could see a very Harry Potter shaped figure running toward a tent that had not been entirely burnt down. Ron and Hermione had seen it too and began advancing. 

"Harry!" Ron called recklessly. Harshly, Y/N slapped a hand onto the ginger's mouth and glared at him. 

"Quiet! Don't you see whatever that thing is?! Whoever cast it is probably nearby so keep quiet," she hissed quietly. So maybe that strange figure really was a wizard. In that case, Y/N was elated that she was as blind as bat when it came to spotting far away things in the dark. 

The girl took her hand off of the boy's mouth and began walking towards where the second figure was last spotted. Once they were close enough to know for sure, the friends gave each other a look, before rushing forward to reunite with a certain chosen one. 

Y/N in particular ran extra fast and nearly tackled the poor boy to the ground. Tiny tears sprung around the corner of her eye and threatened to spill over. She didn't know what she'd do with herself if her horrible, pessimistic thoughts came true. "What the bloody hell happened?" she muttered, voice almost entirely muted by the jacket she had nuzzled into.

When she let Harry go, his eyes immediately darted to the writhing design in the sky. "What is that?" he asked before being forced to hold onto his scar in pain. This wasn't good. 

Out of nowhere, a wooshing sound resonated around the teens. The quartet whipped around to see the wispy grey tell-tale sign of an apparition. Thank Merlin for Harry, who was diligent enough to pull his friends to the floor to avoid the onslaught of stunning spells being thrown at them from every direction. 

This went on for a few spark filled seconds before yelling was heard from afar. "Stop!" Arthur Weasley shouted as he ran to the group. "That's my son!" 

"Ron, Harry, Hermione, Y/N, are you alright?" he questioned. 

Y/N couldn't help but think that Mr. Weasley sounded a tad bit angry even through his concern. Ron though so too and told his father that they "came back for Harry."

The teens suddenly found themselves staring at end of a wand being held by a very wide eyed ministry worker. "Which of you conjured it?!" he demanded wildly, wand still waving left and right to threaten each friend. 

Clearly none of them actual knew what the wizard was talking about as they all threw each other confused looks. He must've been talking about the mark in the sky, but did he surely believe that these teenagers of all people would cast that spell? 

Y/N was flabbergasted. She just wanted to find her friend and sleep. Was that so impossible of a desire? By this point in the night, she had already been lost, almost attacked by that hooded dark wizard, had an almost scandalous moment alone with Hogwart's hottie, and was now being accused of whatever crime this was. 

"Crouch you can't possi-" 

"Do not lie!" the ministry worker now known as "Crouch" wailed. "You've been discovered at the scene of the crime!" he accused. 

It was a bit ridiculous really; threatening a bunch of young wizards who weren't even capable of conjuring up a spell like that. Hermione and Y/N and Ron stared at the wand with uncertainty while Harry stared at Crouch incredulously. 

"Crime?" Harry asked.

"Barty. They're just kids," Arthur inserted, still trying to defend his son and his friends.

"What crime?" Harry asked again, pressing into the subject. His question pushed doubt into the wizard's mind. Y/N watched this Barty Crouch figure lower his wand slightly, but not entirely. 

"That's the dark mark, Harry. It's You-Know-Who's," Ron explained. 

"Voldemort?" Harry questioned. "Those people tonight, in the masks. They're his too aren't they? His followers?" 

The boy received an affirming nod from Mr. Weasley "Yeah. Death Eaters."

Just the mere name of the villains of the night sent shivers down Y/N's spine. So she had been chased by a Death Eater tonight. Voldemort's Death Eater. A Death Eater following Voldemort, the most feared dark wizard who avidly tried to murder her best friend. Suddenly, Y/N was quite happy to have spent so much time practicing disarming spells with Harry back at Hogwarts. Because she certainly would have been toast if not for it. 

Y/N's head ached at all the terrible thoughts and she decided she wanted to end this night as quickly as possible.

At least, the ministry workers finally stopped harassing the girl and her friends over something they didn't do. Barty's eyes somehow managed to widen even more than they already were, and he looked away. "Follow me," he commanded before rushing away. 

Y/N couldn't blame him though. The man had a job to do. She was just happy to finally end the interaction and head home. A tiny pang of dread hit her when Harry started to approach the withdrawing wizards. Like when Hermione asks a question right as the teacher is dismissing a class, causing the teacher to hold back the students to answer her question. 

"Um, there was a man. Before. Uh, there!" Harry informed as he pointed the direction of where Y/N had seen the suspicious figure before. So she really did see something. Merlin, she hoped that something, or more accurately someone, didn't see her. 

"All of you. This way," Crouch commanded before hurrying off with his cloak flowing dramatically behind him. 

With all the commotion finally over, Y/N realized that it was extraordinarily cold out. Nothing like the warmth from before. She hugged herself, hoping to conserve her body heat. The girl was really just about missing her bed by now.

"A man, Harry. Who?" Mr. Weasley asked. 

"I don't know," Harry answered. "I didn't see his face."

The group grimaced at the reply and stared at the lit up sky. The snake was still slithering through the night threateningly as if it could strike the closest living thing in sight. A frown was etched on everyone's faces as they watched the unnerving mark.

"Right. Children we must be getting home. Amos has already gone back," Arthur said as he pushed the teens towards the direction of the portkey. 

The walk was relatively silent as not a single person felt they had anything to contribute about the night. For the most part, everyone was dead tired by every single event that had happened throughout the day. From waking up early to trekking through the forest to watching the world cup to getting attacked by Voldemort's followers to getting accused of a crime. Y/N didn't even want to remind herself about the amount of walking from the day. It was enough to last a life time. No thank you.

"Hey Hermione," Y/N whispered quietly as they walked. 

"Yes?"

"Do you...know any healing spells?" The girl asked. 

"Healing spells?" Hermione gasped shrilly. "You haven't been hurt have you?"

The two young boys of the entourage turned their heads at Hermione's loud overreacting and stayed a little ways behind Mr. Weasley to catch up with whatever conversation the girls were having.

"No no of course not," Y/N assured even as she thought about the slight bruising that her bum had probably taken from her fall earlier. "It's just well, I might've punched Cedric...On accident of course!" 

"Blimey, I can't believe you punched a sixth year!" Ron exclaimed. 

"Would you cut it out Ron. He caught me off guard and I sorta just swung. At least I didn't hex him. That'd be...underage use of..magic..Oh Merlin!" The girl nearly yelled.

"What?" Harry asked. 

"I used a charm tonight! What if I get expelled?" Y/N cried.

"Why'd you do something stupid like that?" Ron questioned.

"For your information, Ronald, I used lumos tonight too because youuu tripped over a root in the dark. The ministry will probably ignore it anyways with the death eaters around and all," Hermioine snapped. 

"Right," the ginger huffed.

"Wait, why'd you use magic?" Harry asked. Of course the wizard had his fair share of underage magic too, but he was worried that is two friends would be sacked from Hogwarts for their deviance.

"I tripped and some death eater saw me. So I disarmed him and ran," Y/N explained nonchalantly, leaving their jaws dropped.

"You disarmed a death eater?!" Ron sputtered. "What was it like exactly?" He pressed.

"Oh you two go away. Y/N's talking to me about it. We don't need you bothering her." Hermione said.

Harry remained silent. Even though he was curious, the boy also knew what it was like being bombarded by those questions. So he walked up ahead with Ron.

Once mostly alone again, Hermione spun to Y/N with wild flames of curiosity burning in her knowledge seeking eyes. "I can't believe you punched Cedric," she said. 

"Accident. He was really sweet about it though. Really...nice," Y/N stated quietly, mind thinking back to her hand in his. "Right. Just nice. That's all. Yup," she added shakily, earning herself a weird look from her friend. "What?"

"Nothing...As for healing spells.. There's Episkey." Hermione suggested. "It's for minor injuries. From broken noses to split lips. There's no specific wand movement for it."

"Perfect...Episkey..Episkey. Should be fine. What could go wrong," Y/N muttered to herself.

Hermione would've scolded her friend if it weren't for their party reuniting with the rest of their friends and family. It was then decided that they'd take the portkey then walk back home from there. Because who cares about sleep when it's already one in the morning and your tent's been burned down from a fire? Y/N. Y/N cares about sleep no matter the time of the day. 

Her eyes were already dangerously drooping at this point and she was rather annoyed of it. No one could really see anything in the dark so they all wobbled to the old boot, unsure of who they were next to. Y/N sighed immediately after touching the flying death trap only to hear a chuckle to from her right.

So Cedric was the one next to her. "I could help you with the whole falling thing you know," he said. 

The way Y/N's heart thrummed against her chest honestly scared the girl. It didn't sound like he was giving advice, but rather a helping hand. That was enough hands for today. Cedric was just too good to be true. Maybe landing on her arse was the better option this time. At least it would wake her up a bit more.

"No...It's alright."

"You sure?" he asked. Y/N would only guess that his perfectly shaped thick eyebrows were furrowed right now. She really wanted to say he was interested in her. Maybe it was a result of her becoming delusional and assuming the first guy to show her even the slightest of attention, liked her. Yeah that was it. Possible interest or not, Y/N wasn't going to let her stupid girl thoughts get in the way of a possible friendship.

"No it's fine. It'll help me wake up," she lied.

"Everybody ready? One, two, threee!" Arthur shouted before the space began to warp again.

It wasn't nearly as bad as the first time round, but it was still quite unpleasant. As expected, Y/N landed with a heavy thump and groaned. She hoped that she would never have to use a portkey again in her life. Lest she suffer the wrath of the ground. She may have gotten lucky last time with Harry to unintentionally cushion her fall, but lady luck was not on her side now.

A shadowy figure approached the girl. Y/N wasn't exactly scared because, well, everything was just a dark shadow at night. She squinted extremely hard to see that it was the Hufflepuff boy. Just like the day before, the boy held out a hand for her. 

She took it but quickly let go after he helped her up. Didn't want to seem too interested or clingy now did we. "Let's go you two, can't be dilly dallying all night..,Er morning." Arthur said. 

Y/N and Cedric began trailing behind the group.There was a high chance that Y/N came to the world cup being mere strangers with the boy, but came back at the very least as acquaintances. From the way they stuck next to each other at the back of the group, they could possibly even have become friends.

"Does it hurt?" She asked. 

"Hmm?"

'when you fell from heaven-oh Merlin what is wrong with me,' Y/N thought. "Oh uh the you know. Like does it still hurt. I know I struck you a while ago.." She said.

"It's alright. Really," he reassured for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

"Can I try a spell on it?" she asked. 

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try."

"Yay!" Y/N cheered as she pulled her wand from her back pocket. "Ready?"

"I think I know how you felt before the portkey now," Cedric joked.

"Don't worry, I got this," She said. "Episkey!" 

The girl didn't hear a sound nor did she see any visible change. A bit discouraged, she looked away. She'd always known she was an average witch, but it wasn't like this spell was actually that hard. Maybe it was just her first time. 

"Did...Did it work?" She asked. 

Cedric nodded. "Yeah, you did a good job." A warm feeling of satisfaction spread across her chest. It felt nice to get praised for stuff. Even if it was something tiny or insignificant. 

"This is where we part now. I'll see you at the ministry, Arthur. Come along Cedric. We must be going." The voice of Amos Diggory trickled into the ears of the two teens. 

"I'll see you at Hogwarts." Cedric said softly. "Bye." 

"Bye," she returned before catching up to Ginny and Hermione. 

"I'll seeee you at Hogwartsss~" Ginny immediately warbled. Y/N's eyes widened and darted toward the direction of the retreating shadows, hoping that they would not hear Ginny's teasing. She slammed her hand onto the ginger girl's mouth wildly. 

"Shut up Ginny! He was just being nice that's all."

"He's been nice with you all day then," she defended.

"Hermioneeeeee, tell Ginny she's being a prat," Y/N whined as she tiredly threw her arms around the fluffy haired girl. 

"Well you did spend an awful lot of time with Cedric today," Hermione said. 

"Doesn't mean anything," Y/N pouted.

"Does thinking his face is absolutely smashing mean anything?" Ginny continued. 

Y/N's cheeks lit up at the comment she had made early third year when the Hufflepuff prefect passed the girls in a hallway. "Whatever," she huffed before stomping ahead to walk next to Ron and Harry. At least they wouldn't bring up her stupid schoolgirl crush. Because they didn't know it existed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I know I wrote scenes that didn't happen in the book or the movie, but you know what? I'll do it again! Also, I'm sorry for making the reader short. It's because I also want to jab at how diggity dang tall these boys are. My 5'1 ass is quaking! Also, you'll see that I've called Y/N an introvert in the tags. I'd like to remind you that introverts are not just shy loners who don't typically socialize with people. Introverts are simply people who thrive best when they are away from people.  
> You'll also notice that I gave Hermione's line to Ron. That's because Ron is street smart and the movies did Ron dirty. It would make better sense to have Ron say its the dark mark because he'd know about this stuff.


	3. "Boys are Stupid"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N spends the rest of summer break with her besties.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> F/N- Father's name
> 
> Link to reference ye old carry https://i.imgur.com/WM3UTgN.png

The amount of begging that Y/N had to do just to stay at the Weasley household during the last week of break was atrocious. Her parents may have let it slide the first summer, but that was when both adults were far too busy with their work to allow their young daughter home alone. Naturally, having her under adult supervision at all that summer was a blessing. 

This time around, her mother wasn't as willing to let her daughter live within a fifty foot proximity to the twins. Especially not when F/N had been told by his wizard chums of two notorious Weasleys with a penchant for trouble. Naturally, however, her father backtracked when she brought up one extremely famous Harry Potter. When she convinced her father at the start of the summer, Y/N wasn't even sure if her best friend would also be joining her at the Weasley's over summer. But luckily, she predicted the stay wonderfully, so it technically wasn't a lie.

As for Mrs. L/N; Y/N got extremely lucky that her family had decided to embrace her mother's muggle lifestyle rather than her father's wizarding ways. If not, she wouldn't have ended up living a mere three blocks away from her best friend, Hermione Granger. You know: The one and only Hermione Granger who was an exceptionally smart and good girl even by her mother's standards. 

Now, Y/N found herself sprawled out on Fred's bed, watching the twins avidly discuss inventions on the floor. Before she arrived, her mother made her promise to stick to the good influences( Hermione and Harry) and stay away from the bad influences (Fred and George). But she was friends with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. So did rules ever apply to her in the first place?

Sure, she spent most her few days locked up in the twins' room, helping them plot ideas for their joke shop, but she also spent a decent amount of time sleeping in the room she shared with Ginny and Hermione. If twelve hours of sleep near good influences didn't soak into her system, then nothing else would. Besides, she also spent time in Ron's room, playing wizard chess against Harry and beating him at it so the influence level balanced out. 

"You going to say anything over there or not?" George's voice interrupted.

"No," she chirped, and continued kicking her feet in the air. "I've got horrible ideas. We all know it'll just lead to some type of exploding product." 

"That's a great idea!" Fred said.

"Oh dear. Don't give me credit for that. I don't want to be responsible for that property damage."

"Don't worry Y/N. We'll write your name all over the packaging so everyone knows," George said. 

Y/N flung a pillow at the boy, which he dodged effortlessly. All that quidditch training had to have come in hand eventually. Unfortunately, Y/N didn't possess that type of training and got a face full of cushion in return. She scrunched her nose up at they boy, but tucked the pillow under her arms to ensure her safety against any other possible attacks. 

"We're going to need something that girls like. Only the boys really play tricks at Hogwarts," Fred suggested. 

"And Y/N," George added, eyes shifting to look at her. 

"Not by choice," she retorted even though she didn't entirely mean it. The girl did like sneaking around with the twins in the castle, but she didn't like being woken up at midnight to do it. 

"But you're so good at sneaking in and out of places. Who else would we have plant dung bombs around school?" George continued, standing up to sit on his bed. Fred followed suit, but had to nudge Y/N to the side to make space for himself on his own bed. 

George was completely right though. Y/N was exceptionally talented at staying hidden. In fact, the only reason she'd been caught sneaking into the kitchen her second year was because of their marauder's map. If not for the dumb parchment, her weekly kitchen raids would've continued to go unnoticed. But also meant that the twins never would've offered to walk her back to the common room, or "adopted" her as their apprentice troublemaker. But she also had the unleashing of the chamber of secrets to blame for that. 

"Still, you're a girl," Fred said.

"And?" She answered.

"What do you think girls would buy?" George asked. 

"I dunno. You could try a diluted love potion. With pink packaging. Something about teenage girls always having crushes and liking pink," Y/N suggested, rolling over to face the ceiling rather than George's bed. 

"And you?" Fred asked, peering down at the girl curiously. 

Y/N stared back at the boy with an arched eyebrow. "What about me?"

"Do you have any crushes?" George inquired. Y/N didn't see the way his eyes shimmered with bits of hope and..something else..,but Fred certainly did. Fred wasn't in any position to say anything about it though, as his mind was also burning with the same questions.

"Uh.." There was definitely Cedric. But she only slightly fancied him because he was an absolutely gorgeous specimen of a wizard. Well, that was all she really had to base him off of at the moment. If that rule applied, then her nonexistent love life would be an absolute mess. That would mean she also had a crush on anyone she found attractive. 

Staring up at Fred's face, she could definitely say he was handsome. And she already knew the twins were funny and playful and kind and...probably her favorite people in the world. Either one of them would probably make an amazing boyfrie- what?! Oh dear. Now Y/N had found herself thinking in a no-no zone. 

"None of your business," she snapped. Blimey, was Y/N glad no one could read minds here. But wait. mind-reading WAS possible in the wizarding world. She knew Fred wasn't into Legilimency. But from the way his eyes dug intensely at her, she thought for a second that maybe he really could hear her every thought.

Having had enough of the eye contact, she rolled over again to face George instead. Except, he was doing the same as his twin. Just, from a further distance. This type of interaction wasn't exactly Y/N's thing. Eyes were the windows to the soul, and Y/N didn't want to dive into anyone's soul at the moment. So her nails became her new focus.

"Oh but it's all of our business," the two badgered. 

"As your designated best friends, it's our job to make sure you stay away from slimey blokes,"George declared.

"Especially gits like Ron," Fred joked. 

"Mhhhmmm. And you're not worried that if I've suddenly got a boyfriend, I won't be available to be dumb with you two," she countered. 

"Not at allll," they said, clearly not meaning it. 

"No need to worry. Boys are stupid," she declared.

"Even us?" they asked.

"Especially you," she answered. Obviously, Y/N should've answered differently because she was soon squirming at the bottom of a uncalled for dog pile. "Get off-a me!" she whined, clawing at the edge of the bed towards sweet freedom.

"Neveerr!" they shouted, shoving until the girl was nearly a single combined entity with Fred's bed. Y/N merely grunted with concentration.

"Fred, George , mum says it's time to-oh-"

Three heads whipped around at breakneck speed to look at whomever had interrupted their scuffle. Standing in the doorway were the rest of the teens within the household; staring at the trio in a confused manner. 

Y/N used this distraction to wriggle out from under the boys. Landing on the floor was a small-but still painful- price to pay for her freedom. 

"Honestly, you three are so strange," Hermione huffed. Meanwhile, Ginny grinned goofily as if she knew the most valuable secret in the world. Harry and Ron were still a bit shell shocked. After all, the only thing that they could really see was a tangle of limbs and head of H/C locks peeping from somewhere in the mess.

"I'm freeeeee!" Y/N sang victoriously from the floor. 

"Mental, those three," Ron muttered, catching the attention of the floor girl. She sent him a quick glare and an eye roll.

"Just tell mum we'll be down soon," Fred instructed. 

"Well don't take too long or the food will get cold," Ginny warned before shutting the door. 

Once the three were alone again, Y/N pounced onto the nearest boy , yelling "Sneak attack!" as she did so. Poor George never saw it coming and tumbled right out of bed. The girl took this chance to pin the unsuspecting boy by his wrists and throw her weight onto his stomach. 

"Oi what happened to being down soon?" George protested. 

Y/N was surprised to feel two arms sneak around her waist and pull her up from the twin. She struggled listlessly and kicked her feet in the air once she was away from the boy. "Okay but admit it. If there weren't two of you, I would've won that fight," she pouted. 

"Right, and how do you plan on getting out, love," Fred teased. 

"You could let go of me. Or you'll just end up carrying me to dinner," she suggested sweetly. 

"You really do underestimate us," the other twin said. 

Y/N merely pouted at the boy hauled her down the burrow's several flights of stairs. He even had the audacity to pass her to his twin to carry. Well jokes on them she supposed. Now she just had a free ride down the stairs.The Weasley family and friends were quite bamboozled to see the strange sight of one Y/N being carried down the stairs like a pouting child while the twins grinned victoriously. "Weasely winner!"

Mrs. Weasley's heart nearly gave out as she saw their guest being handled in such a way. She rushed up to her kids and began scolding them. "Oh you two! Put that poor girl down!" The boys had no choice but to oblige. Once Y/N was on the sweet floor again, Molly began doting on the girl as if she were her mother. "Are you alright dear?"

"Yeah no worries Mrs. Weasley. We were only playing around," she reassured. 

"Hey what about us? She attac-" Y/N threw a hand against George's mouth and tried to give their mother the most innocent face she could muster up. Fred nearly burst out laughing at both his brother and best friend being absolutely dimwitted. 

"Mmmm what's for dinner? Smells amazing," she chirped, desperate to shift Molly's attention. Fortunately, this method worked and the lady began leading the three to the table. Y/N removed her hand from George's mouth but stuck her tongue out childishly once Mrs. Weasley's back was turned.

~

Y/N loved Hogwarts, but she wasn't quite ready to go back. School meant less time to hang out with her friends, less time to sleep, but more importantly, more brain cells than Y/N would like to use. Obviously, there was also the little problem of any Voldemort related entities possibly attempting to murder her or her best friend. 

Y/N knew she should've snatched Hermione's time turner last year when she had the chance. Obviously, Mcgonagall would've committed bloody murder for the violation of rules, but at least Y/N wouldn't be here right now; helping Ginny pack for the train to Hogwarts the next day.

Hermione was Hermione. She couldn't wait to get back to school for whatever reason. Seriously, Hermione was basically a Ravenclaw hiding within a Gryffindor. Y/N rolled her eyes from behind Hermione's fluffy mop of hair as the girl talked about the upcoming term relentlessly. 

"I've already read ahead in the standard book of spells and intermediate transfiguration, and I think you'll really enjoy fourth year, Ginny," Hermione babbled. 

"Hermione, WE haven't even started the term. How do you know if Ginny will enjoy it. For all we know, we might really be murdered this time round," Y/N sighed.

"Well, as far as I know, we're having a totally normal year whether we like it or not," she retorted.

"Actually," Ginny interrupted, stuffing a scarf into her trunk. "Mum mentioned some big event happening at school this year."

Y/N threw her arms up in the air exasperatedly. "See I knew it!"

"What is it?" Hermione questioned.

"Dunno. Mum wouldn't say. Said it was a surprise."

"Bet the surprise is You-Know-Who jumping out from behind the teachers' table to murder us!" Y/N said. In return, she received a not so gentle smacking from Hermione, but took no offense to it. Her friend wouldn't have smacked her if she was entirely wrong. Ginny laughed as she threw another article of clothing into trunk.

A second later, Ginny Weasley's door creaked open to reveal none other than the twins with brilliant smiles on their faces. "We need to borrow Y/N," they stated at the same time.

"Bugger off, It's girl time," Ginny stated.

"It's really important. We'll bring her right back," Fred promised. 

"Yeah that's what you said yesterday and the day before," Ginny whined, still attempting to spend as much of her free time with her friend as possible.

"I'll be right back," Y/N said as she exited the room.

Ginny squinted at the girl as she left, dissatisfied. Hermione had already expected it. There was no way the twins would spend their last free day without bugging Y/N somehow. "Just let them be," she sighed.

Outside, in the hallway, Y/N made her way to the all too familiar room. Somehow, it was messier than usual. Y/N could tell it was their half baked attempt to pack for the upcoming school year. She sighed exasperatedly. Boys. 

"What's so important that you had to come to Ginny's room just to get me? It better not be another prank. I don't appreciate things exploding in my face."

"This right here!" Fred proclaimed proudly as he held up a viral of some unknown pearly liquid. 

"Great. You're wasting my time on sparkly pink juice," she sassed before plucking the vial from the boy's hand and opening it. 

George was quick to snatch the vial away as soon as she started bringing the mysterious liquid to her lips. "Don't drink that!"

"I thought you wanted me to. You usually do. What is it anyways?" she questioned. 

"Amortentia," The twins chimed at the same time. 

Y/N tilted her head at stared at the two. Which was honestly the most adorable thing the boys had ever seen from Y/N. She just looked like a lost, confused puppy and it made their hearts absolutely melt.They worked hard to resist the urge to pinch her cheeks and make her promise to stay boyfriend-free forever. 

"Love potion," they admitted. 

Y/N's eyes widened with a mix of emotions. Scared that she almost drank it. Relieved that she didn't drink it. Confused why they had it. And eventually somewhat mad that they probably brewed it. 

"I didn't actually mean it. I thought this potion was advanced," she muttered.

"It is." George assured. 

"You underestimate us too much dear," Fred claimed, and took the opened potion from his twin's hand. " Come on now, take a whiff."

The boy held the vial up to Y/N and waited expectantly. Hesitantly, she bent over to take in the love potion's scent. She didn't really smell anything. Maybe a hint of gunpowder if she concentrated hard enough, but that could've been residue from the twins' room after they pulled that prank a few days ago. Y/N thought that maybe she'd caught a whiff of a forest-y fresh type of aroma, but she still wasn't sure and thought that maybe her mind was tricking her into thinking that there was anything at all.

"I think you brewed it wrong," she said. "I don't smell anything. Literally all I smell is your room. What's it supposed to smell like?" 

The two boys went silent. Did she really not know? 

Y/N watched their faces closely. There was something they weren't telling her. 

"Nothing!" Fred lied.

"Congrats, you passed the test, see you around!" yelped George strangely before pushing the girl out of the room and throwing the door shut. 

The edges of his lips were pulled taut in thought. There was no way they brewed it wrong. They'd already confirmed it themselves. Fred looked at his younger brother of just a few minutes. 

George averted his gaze and held far off look of reminiscence. "Smelled the Hogwarts kitchens."

Fred stared at the door that the other half of his world had just gone through. "Paint."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! I know it's a short chapter, but the first three chapters were all supposed to be a single chapter. It's also more of a strange transition/ filler chapter because I really had no idea what to write here.


	4. Starstruck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day back and Y/N's causing a bit of a stir.

Things were already off to a strange start, and she had barely boarded Hogwarts Express. For some mysterious reason, the appointed time for boarding the train was a bit earlier than the years before. She'd gotten confirmation from the twins that this had never been done in the year's that they attended the school. 

As soon as she had emerged from the brick wall and onto platform 9 and 3/4, Y/N couldn't help but feel like she was being watched. It didn't take long for her to realize that it was coming from her own school-mates taking absurdly long double takes. Really, you'd think that they'd seen the legendary Harry Potter before.

As the quartet approached the locomotive, Y/N nudged the chosen one's arm. "Looks like someone's popular this year," she said. 

Harry stared back at the girl incredulously, his bright green eyes wide. His friend was smart when she wanted to be, but did she really not know? I mean, she was absolutely stunning now was she not? Harry thought it impossible that Y/N could look into a mirror and not see how much of a gorgeous witch she had become. Because he certainly thought she was pretty. "Uh yeah, I guess," he shrugged. If someone was going to tell Y/N that she was an eye catcher now, it wasn't going to be Harry. That would simply be too awkward.

The ride itself wasn't too interesting. The group stuck to their usual routine: with Harry and Y/N on one side and Hermione and Ron on the other. Unlike Ron or Hermione, Y/N had nothing to read. Well, nothing she wanted to read. Maybe a good muggle book would've tickled her fancy but she was hoping the library would take care of that with their "Muggle fiction" section. Instead, she busied herself with leaning onto Harry's shoulder and drumming her fingers against the seat as she dully eyed the serpent on the paper that Hermione held. 

Harry didn't mind this at all. He'd become accustomed to his friend's habit of making herself comfortable just about anywhere and by any means possible. Strangely, it was a part of Y/N that he found himself liking more and more with each day. It was such a Y/N thing of her to do.

The girl was just about to drift off to sleep out of sheer boredom before the holy grail of words were heard from down the hall. "Anything from the trolley?"

All but Hermione sprung to action. If there was anything Y/N and Ron were going to sit up for, it was candy. The girl fished out a sickle from her pocket and pressed it into Harry's hand. "Jelly slugs!"

Once the trolley lady was at their door, the two boys rushed ahead to purchase the sweets. Ron returned first but Harry got a bit...preoccupied by a certain Ravenclaw seeker buying pumpkin pasties. She was pretty. Pretty enough to make the boy fumble on his words and forget what he was doing for a second. 

But she wasn't nearly as pretty as the girl waiting for him to return with the biggest expecting eyes in the universe. As soon as her favorite treat was within her grasp, Y/N settled back onto her favorite human pillow. Hermione's ranting melted into the gentle thrum of the train engine and lulled the girl to sleep as soon as her treat was devoured. She could barely even register Harry's arm trying its best not to wake the girl as he wrote and attached a letter to Hedwig. Y/N couldn't help but think that if she were going to fall asleep on anyone, It would definitely be Harry.

~

Waking up (1) on her friend's lap and (2) with the sun still decently bright outside was surprisingly pleasant for Y/N. Usually, it was Hermione who shook the girl awake, but she found that Harry was quite gentle with nudging her back into the conscious realm. Y/N didn't care that boys weren't allowed in the girls' dormitory. If she was woken up this nicely every morning by Harry (unlike Hermione's hurricane of a wake up call), Y/N would be a happy girl for the rest of her life.

Everything was a bit strange really. Like the previous years, they mounted the invisible creature-pulled carts and partook in the bumpy ride to the castle. Once in the school itself, none of the returning students really knew where to go. They had a while before the start of term feast would commence, and no idea what to do. 

Y/N noticed some of the more social students begin to search for their buddies in other houses. She couldn't help but think of some people she couldn't wait to see. The girl had yet to see her on the train, so she would definitely need to catch up with her. There was also Cedric. That gorgeous lad. The one who said he'd see her at Hogwarts, who's warm hands popped into her mind from time to time. But that was normal right? Nothing to worry about right? Dwelling on pleasant memories didn't mean much right? But...was it too pathetic of her to search for the hufflepuff?

A bit dejected, Y/N followed her friends toward the common room. Well...Until crowds of students pushed past the group and into the courtyard. For a split second, Y/N felt a bit fearful. The running students looked so much like the fleeing wizards from the world cup. She shivered, unnerved and unsure of what to do; until she spotted Fred and George.

They called for Y/N and her group from across the courtyard. Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged looks before heading towards the twins. 

Once there, the twins wasted no time hurrying off to the balustrade (I had to spend forever searching for that word) that overlooked the Black Lake. The younger students chased after them and deftly caught sight of a strange object drawing closer and closer in the sky. 

'UFO, UFO!' Y/N silently begged in her head. Not that she was a hardcore muggle alien enthusiast, but wouldn't it be cool if it were UFOs? 

Students piled up against the railings, hoping to get a glance as the mysterious objects. Y/N being the sneaky little creature she was, managed to snag front row seats to the show, right next to Ginny, an overexcited younger year, and of course the golden trio. Meanwhile, the twins were towering over the entire population of spectators and probably had the clearest view out of anyone not in the first row. 

They watched in awe as a fine Pegasus-drawn carriage came barreling out of the sky and nearly knocked over their beloved groundskeeper. Then, out of nowhere, a menacing ship emerged from the lake, spraying droplets of water every which way. Y/N stared at the new arrival with shock. Last time she checked, lakes weren't connected to the ocean like that, and there were no boats hiding down in the Black Lake. 

Hermione tugged at Y/N's school robes. "It's time for the welcoming feast," she stated bluntly.

"Right," said Y/N, trailing after her friends.

~

Y/N was glad to see that some things still never changed, but at that same time she sort of wished it did. Not for any particular reason though. Just that the sorting ceremony was a bit tedious and boring to sit through. It was all fun and games when she was a first year, but she just wanted to eat right now.

Nonetheless, the girl sat down at her well-missed spot next to Fred and George and across from Harry. With her chin propped up on her hands, she watched the ceremony with limited interest. Though she did clap and welcome the incoming gryffindors.

"So tonight," George whispered lowly so no one would hear but Y/N.

"No," Y/N deadpanned.

"Come on Y/N, we need you." Fred begged, joining the conversation. 

"No, you're not interrupting my sleep tonight. I'm serious," she maintained.

"Come on. It's going to be our tradition now. Wouldn't be the start of a new term without disturbing filch," Fred continued. 

"Now we're all settled in and sorted-" Dumbledore interrupted. Y/N gladly took this chance to hold a finger to her smirking lips to shush the twins. "-This castle will not only be your home this year-" The grand doors squeaked open and alerted every student's attention to Filch. The groundskeeper hobbled along the aisle, clutching his chest for dear life, and Y/N felt bad. There was no way she would agree with Fred and George on this tonight. 

"See, Hogwarts has been chosen..." the headmaster continued, although faultily, until the caretaker arrived. 

Y/N watched with an eyebrow raised. Well this was certainly new. She couldn't quite recall anything like this during her first three years. The twins weren't exactly on the same page, however. They only stared intensely at the girl, still holding onto their previous conversation. They really did need her this time.

The girl took advantage of the minor break in her headmaster's speech to scold the boys. "Would you stop staring!" She hissed quietly. 

"We can't do it ourselves tonight. Really. Filch's been paranoid since last year," said George. 

"And who's fault is that," Y/N snapped. 

"So-" Dumbledore continued. The girl smiled at the perfect timing. She shrugged her shoulders victoriously at the boys and returned her not-exactly-undivided attention to their headmaster. "Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event," Dumbledore stated. "The triwizard tournament!" 

Mumbles erupted from the school. Some of the more wizarding-savvy students were bursting with excitement. Unfortunately, Y/N's boring muggle uprising left her confused. She watched the twins exchange glaces and mutter "Brilliant."

There it was. Y/N knew the dimwits long enough to know that this triwizard tournament was definitely nothing she wanted to take a part of. Sure she loved the twins, but those two were up to some questionable things most of the time.

She listened on as Dumbledore explained the tournament. It sounded like a blood bath to her. The moment he uttered "not for the faint-hearted", Y/N's mood immediately rose. It wasn't like Y/N was faint-hearted. She just hated events like these. Maybe that's why she was so boring.

Although, she was rather excited for the the two schools that triumphantly burst through the doors of the grand hall. They seemed nothing like Hogwarts. First of all, the girls from Beauxbatons? Absolutely stunning. Gorgeous. Y/N was definitely jealous. 'What's it like to be that pretty?' she wondered, not realizing that several boys and girls hadn't stopped sneaking glances all night.

Next came Durmstrang. Their whole display was filled with less grace, but much more grandiose. Staffs, acrobatics, even fire. A very enticing sight. After, an entourage of their non-performing students shuffled in. At first, like all the other students, Y/N watched the new school enter, but she soon had to stop. She'd found herself afflicted with a case of the "eye contact avoiding syndrome."

It was uncomfortable, really. Durmstrang student after Durmstrang student strode in, somehow immediately found Y/N in the crowd, and gawked like no tomorrow. The girl had no choice but to avert her gaze elsewhere. Her hand instinctively reached for the back of her neck out of habit. her E/C eyes flickered to the twins, who had strange looks on their faces.

Their eyes darted back and forth between their best friend and the incoming boys, who gazed at Y/N with a look at didn't sit well with them. Suddenly, Fred and George found their interest in the Durmstrang students greatly diminished.

Meanwhile, Y/N stared at the bare table expectantly. Any second now, a feast that would make kings jealous would appear and be absolutely destroyed by Y/N. 

"Hogwarts!" Dumbledore called out abruptly. Y/N flinched at the volume, causing George to smile. Her eyes widened as a pout formed on her lips. What was taking so long? "Let's entertain our friends in the best way we can. All Stand!"

Y/N's jaw dropped. 'You've got to be joking," she thought. Fred and George chuckled and stood up with the crowd. The girl followed suit, albeit reluctantly and still angrily. She swatted at George's arm, but he patted her head in return. She huffed and squinted her eyes at the Weasley. 

"Maestro please," Dumbledore commanded. 

And then the most painstakingly excruciating moments in Y/N's life. She wasn't much of a singer, so she kept her mouth shut. Everyone else on the other hand, didn't mind bursting out into song. With nothing else to do, Y/N scoped out the students, wondering if she could spot another of her friends.

By some evil circumstance, her E/C orbs happened to meet steely grey ones. Malfoy's scowl said it all. He was absolutely disgusted with this. Wow, Y/N knew Draco was a brat, but he was exhibiting some "extremely teenage boy that hates everything" behavior. His sneer was so intense that it was comical. 

It took everything in the girl to stop herself from laughing. The Slytherin scowl increased tenfold, but Y/N paid no mind to it. She smiled in return. What was Malfoy going to do? Hex her? Ignore her? It was a bit late for that now wasn't it? Although no one but the blonde wizard was observant enough to witness the secret little interaction, Y/N beamed proudly.

Malfoy was taken aback. What the hell was that? Why did she smile at him? And why did she look so pretty doing it? Didn't she hate him? A look of shock crossed his sharp features for a split second before he steeled his face and forced his attention elsewhere. Not today. Not with her of all people. 

Yet he couldn't help himself. Their last interaction crossed his mind over and over again. It wasn't pleasant, but it was...weird. He was supposed to hate her no? She was a Gryffindor, half-blood, Potter's friend. But he couldn't think of anything she'd ever done to deserve his hate. Then there was her bloody smile. Who smiles at someone you're supposed to hate? 

Like some starstruck child, his icy grey eyes unwillingly stole glances at the girl all night. He hated it. Draco Malfoy should've never laid his eyes upon Y/N. She'd ruin him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't murder me for changing the boarding times for the train. In the movie, everyone gets to watch the other schools arrive at Hogwarts and it is clearly during the daytime. In the next scene, Dumbledore specifically says "Well now we're all settled in and sorted." Therefore, the tournament and schools were introduced on the first day. Ik the two other schools arrived on October 30 in the books, but fight me I dare you.  
> P.S - This wasn't my original plan for the chapter. Or story. I was supposed to have 13 chapters, but I keep writing super long scenes so I have to keep splitting chapters in two. Anyways, here's a little filler chapter maybe? If you're wondering what direction I'm taking with Draco, I've decided to take the "huge spoiled teenage brat but he's now developed a crush on someone he shouldn't and now is being even more of a brat about it" route. (P.S P.S this is unedited. I just wanted to get a chapter out and its way past my sleep time :D)


	5. Flirt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N can't tell the difference between flirting and being nice without being told.

Y/N should've known that the twins wouldn't accept no for an answer. She shouldn't have slammed into bed the second she was allowed to even though she had a sneaking suspicion that she wouldn't stay in it for long.

Because, in what felt like the blink of an eye, it was eleven of clock, pitch black, and Y/N was being startled awake by tapping noises on the window. 'Damn it,' she thought. It was already so chilly and dark out. She just didn't want to leave the comfort of her blanket haven. Maybe if she closed her eyes, they would go away.

A minute later, she felt horribly guilty. They were out in the cold waiting for her while she was tucked away inside a warm tower. 

With a heavy sigh, she threw off the comforter and tiptoed to the window. Y/N was not surprised in the least to see two grinning Weasleys hovering on their brooms just outside the girl's dormitory. The girl rolled her eyes and pried open the heavy glass. Merlin, she was already regretting this. 

The frigid breeze from the outside nipped at her exposed arms and raised goosebumps on her skin. She began to worry that the other girls, who were actually allowed to sleep soundly in the dorms, would feel the chill.

"Weasley o Weasley, wherefore art thou Blithering idiots!" She hissed.

"We really do need you this time," said Fred quietly. 

Y/N huffed whilst glaring as menacingly at the twins as she could. She wasn't angry. Just irritated. Her mood slowly soured with each new breeze that brushed past her skin and sunk into her unprotected bones. "I'll see you in the common room," she whispered. 

The two boys celebrated with a high five and whooped silently before whizzing away. 

What a waste. Y/N would have to change out of her oh so comfortable pajamas and into something less cozy. As quietly as she possibly could, the girl dug through her trunk for her usual nightly sneak outfit. 

She grimaced as she dodged Lavender Brown's luggage. Usually, Y/N was great at navigating her dorm room in the dark, but the start of a new term meant the girls had still yet to settle in. And honestly, Lavender wouldn't settle in for at least a month. If anyone's stray items were to be found laying around, it was Lavender's. 

Once the common room was in sight, she could see the twins waiting by the dying fire. A dim, orange glow danced back and forth against their features and seemed as if it were setting their ginger hair on fire. They're fiery heads turned as soon as Y/N's footsteps were heard approaching them. 

"What's the plan?"

Fred held up a package that was much too familiar for Y/N's liking. "Last resort. We're taking ..that.. route," George explained. 

Y/N grimaced. "I hate you," she muttered as she pushed past the two and stomped to the portrait hole. "Aren't you two dimwits coming along?" 

"Knew you'd be up for it," they said simultaneously. 

"Yeah yeah come on. The quicker we finish this the better," she grumbled before climbing through the hole. 

The three knew Hogwarts like the back of their hand. Harry may own the marauder's map, but the trio had enough combined personal experience to make their own. Particularly Y/N who knew far too much about the castle's secret passageways and hidey holes for a normal student. When asked about it her second year, she claimed that the hallways were too crowded during passing periods and she preferred to stick to....less ...populated routes.

Most of the time, the passageways were kept relatively clean and untouched. She doubted that even the spiders knew where they were hidden. How Y/N wished that it were the case this time. 

No one had accessed this vent for years, and there was a bloody good reason for it. No one could manage to fit into the tiny space, except the creepy crawlers that inhabited the night. 

Y/N groaned the moment she and the twins pried open the absurdly large painting that covered the tiny entrance to where their desired spot. The girl didn't quite fancy the look of the spiderweb decorated corners one bit. She allowed Fred and George to squeeze in first but stood completely frozen when it was her turn. 

"We'll be in and out in just a few minutes, Y/N," George assured as soon as he saw his friend hesitate. The girl gulped and dashed inside, making sure to avoid the cobwebs like her life depended on it. 

The room was much smaller than she had ever imagined. She wasn't entirely sure whether to call it a room or a closet at this point. There was hardly less than a foot between Y/N and the twins who also tried their best to refrain from leaning against the dusty walls. It would just end up being evidence later on if they were ever suspected.

"That, Y/N-" Fred jabbed a finger up at the teeny vent that would lead to Filch's office.

"Is where you'll be going," George finished. 

Y/N gulped. It looked awfully dusty. "Help me up would ya," she asked halfheartedly. 

"On it," they replied. As if they'd done it a million times, the two boys bent down to present their hands for boosting. 

Complete disgust surged through every inch of Y/N's being as her fingers latched onto the dust covered ledge. With her amazing abilities, Y/N struggled to shimmy into the practically microscopic vent that was made of roughly lain stone. 

'Women up Y/N, it's only ten feet,' she encouraged to herself.

The space felt as if it were narrowing down and crushing her with every inch she crawled. Because it was. The girl tried her best to keep her breathing even in fear of obnoxiously loud breathes that would give away their master plan. It was extremely difficult though. Y/N was glad for that little light at the end of the tunnel, but she also hated it with ever fiber of her being. She couldn't trust her eyes to show her what was real or not. If she focused on a single spot long enough, surely an arachnid would scurry across her field of vision and come to bite her.

Alas! That light had finally come. She had just arrived at the intricately designed vent covering. Y/N had never personally had a trip into the caretaker's office but she could imagine that the dully colored metal blended right into the rest of the equally dull walls.There was no way Filch would be able to tell where the Dung bomb had come from. Especially since he wasn't even in the office to begin with.

The girl preoccupied herself with forcing open the dilapidated cover with all her might. Why did Y/N have to be the first person to ever open this bloody hunk of metal in a hundred years? Her eyebrows furrowed with concentration as she pushed against the cover with such force that she was sure there would be tiny patterned indents in her skin later. 

But something moved. Oh Merlin something moved! Her head snapped to an angle to peer at whatever the bloody hell had just made itself present. Oh dear Merlin this was to much. 

From beside her right hand, a horrifically large arachnid stood. It's eight eyes peered right back at the girl, unblinking and unpredictable. Y/N's breath hitched in her throat. She couldn't make a single peep or she'd be through. 

At the very least, the decrepit old piece of metal was finally open. What to do, what to do? Should she just close her eyes, toss the dung bomb into the room and flee, or stare the spider in its ugly eight eyes and make sure it wasn't planning on doing anything stupid?

Option two was unbelievably scary, but she had to do it. Slowly, she produced the prank from her pocket and nudged it out of its packaging. If she even touched the tiniest bit of the bomb, it would leave her with the most dead giveaway of a stench in the entire universe.

Rigidly, she threw the Dung bomb into the office and shut the grate. Happy to be done with the task, she scooted backwards. Until she saw it move again. That evil, vile creature! 

It advanced. Slowly at first, but then the beast gained speed. Frightened, the girl's hand jolted away from its spot, only to be marred in the process. "Bloody hell!" She hissed. It stung so bad, and who knew how dirty that jagged piece of stone was.

Yet this was still the least of her problems. That damned eight eyed, eight legged menace was still gaining on her. What the hell did she ever do it it? Aside from trespass on its territory...

Nevertheless, she persevered on and nearly reached the ledge. She'd rather fall and break her ankle than face that creature ever again. Her foot was off the edge now. There wasn't anything solid under half her body at this point, and she knew she'd have to jump quite soon. With her legs being the only parts of her dangling off the edge, she pushed off. 

Damn was Y/N glad to have Fred and George in her life. Sure, it was their fault that she was in this mess in the first place, but at least they caught her. Well George specifically. 

The moment Y/N's feet were back on the sweet ground, she buried her head into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. Warm arms slunk around her shoulders and engulfed her into one of the most comforting embraces Y/N had ever experienced in her life. 

"Everything alright up there?" he questioned, his low voice sending reverberations through his chest that could've lulled Y/N to sleep.The feeling in itself calmed her down much more than even a calming draught ever would.

"That was awful," she mumbled into his chest. 

"You did good," he assured.

Y/N let go- much too quickly in George's opinion. 

"You look terrible, " Fred noted. His hands with minds of their own made it their mission to pat the dust off of the girl's hair. 

"Thank, I feel terrible," she answered.

"Right then. Let's go. Only part one and two of our mission has been completed. Can't get caught at the scene of the crime," Fred cheered.

The three shuffled out of the stuffy room and stretched their limbs with much pleasure. 

They then shuffled down the dark hallway casually. It wasn't like they'd ever been caught before. Scratch that. It wasn't like Y/N had ever been caught before. Fred and George were another story. They had pretty much trademarked their pranks, and Y/N was merely an accomplice. No one would ever guess it was the quiet girl whom no one ever bothered to second a glance at.

With the lack of talking, Y/N thought it best not to mention the injury that was dripping tiny red droplets down her fingers. Less talking meant less chance of being heard. But Merlin did it sting like a hell. 

George was the first of the trio to reach the end of the hallway.He stuck his head around the corner and deemed the coast as clear. Fred and Y/N too sneaked around the corner and followed their lookout. None of the troublemakers liked this hallway one bit. It was much too open for their liking and there wasn't a single hidden nook or cranny to shelter them from Filch or the teachers. And it was nearly impossible to hide in the shadows when the entire stretch was lit up by the moon's beams. One would have no choice but to leap right out of the window if they really wanted to avoid being caught. 

But with George leading and Fred behind her, Y/N had no reason to fret. For whatever reason, the twins took it upon themselves to set up in a formation where Y/N could easily have been covered in the chance case of actually being discovered. She'd assumed that it was because the boys felt bad for dragging her along their midnight adventures. 

As soon as the three were within the dim light, Y/N took it upon herself to asses her own injury. All the girl could really see were dark smudges across her hand. It was certainly a large nick, but not too deep. It still stung either way. She wondered if any of the girls in her dorm had any bandages, and if they would mind waking up at midnight to allow her to use them. Probably not.

Y/N's poor, nearly blind eyes (Though this was a major exaggeration) squinted harshly at the dark corridor they'd just stumbled upon. She almost wished they were back in that stupid hallway. At least she could see anything there. 

She wasn't sure when, but apparently the girl had settled into walking next to Fred; since there was obviously no need for cover at this point. 

However, she stuck to Fred's side like a moth would to a flame. The girl cursed herself for not bringing a hoodie or jumper. It would've been too much of a hassle to dig out in the first place. Instead, she glued herself to the tall boy's side to steal his body heat like the freezing parasite she was. 

"Trying to pull some moves now are we? I didn't take you for that type," he spoke abruptly.

"What? No, shut up. I'm just cold..That's all," She sputtered.

Y/N didn't know why she answered the way she did. Truly, she didn't mean to, but now that Fred had brought it up, she began to worry. What if she had come across as flirting? Why was it a bad thing? Why was she not actually worried too much if it was a bad thing or not? And since when had her friend started thinking like that?

"Here," said he quietly. 

Y/N being the blind bat she was, couldn't tell what was happening for second before she felt something warm being thrown over her head. Gasp. Fred's sweater. "Thanks."

Careful to mind her bloodied hand, the girl slipped her arms through the sleeves, poked her head through the neck hole and let the large garment absolutely bury her in fabric. Looks like Y/N was going to start investing in over sized clothing. She couldn't tell if it was the fact that she was freezing earlier or that the sweater was kept toasty by its previous wearer, but Y/N was never going to take it off. Not to mention, it smelled amazing. Now Y/N was no sweater sniffer, but she swore she could detect hints of the Burrow and Molly's cooking. Honestly, where had this sweater been all her life? Oh right. On Fred Weasley.

Y/N, who had been stalking too close to the wall, felt her world tip as her foot caught on a structure that jutted out like the inconvenience that it was. "Shit!" She yelped in surprise in a rather unladylike fashion. 

Shit indeed. The twins whipped around to give Y/N a wide eyed, fearful look. Soft foot steps were heard from the hallway they'd only escaped from minutes ago. A light shined from the end of the corridor and only grew brighter and brighter with each second.

'bollocks,' she thought. Where to run? Where to hide? they were only on the fifth floor. So which secrets were hidden in this hallway? 

The tapestry! How could she not have thought about it sooner?!

Hurriedly, she dragged the two boys to the worn tapestry hanging on the wall. The urge to cough when dust blew in her face upon swinging open the fabric was strong, but she managed to hold it off. The light was essentially illuminating half of the hallway by now. With a quiet grunt and a "Hey" from the twins, she shoved them into the hallway and shut the flap. 

"Y/N?" 

Guess it was time to meet her fate. The girl whipped around, not exactly startled, but still alarmed.

"Cedric!" Oh great the one boy she'd sort of wanted to see and she happened to at the worst possible time: at midnight with nothing but a weak handheld lantern to cast its light upon their visage. 

"What are you doing out past curfew?" He questioned dutifully.

"What are YOU doing out past curfew," She rebutted. 

He chuckled. "I'm a prefect. It's sort of my job."

Y/N face palmed with her uninjured hand. Of course! How could she forget?! Well Merlin, now she had to make an excuse for loitering past curfew. Oh she'd done it now.

"R-right. I was just...uhm..wandering! Yes wandering, a lot on my mind ya know. Good for clearing my head. Lost track of time I guess. Happens you know," she lied, though extremely unconvincingly.

There was no way she was getting out of this situation. Might as well go at it alone.

"Um right so I'll just be GOING TO THE COMMON ROOM NOW," she awkwardly enunciated. Yeah, the twins probably got the message. Like a new born fawn, she stumbled away for a few steps, hoping that she looked even the tiniest bit natural. 

"Wait," Cedric called out.

'How bad would it look if I ran right now?..No I can't outrun him. Stupid perfect athletic captain of quidditch,' she speculated.

"Let me walk you back," he offered. 

Y/N's jaw dropped ever so slightly. She seriously thought she was going to get ratted out or have points taken off. Instead, he just wanted to accompany her back to the common room? Why?

"To make sure you don't go wandering off again of course," he added lightheartedly.

A bit of Y/N felt dejected. Of course that was why. Why else would he accompany her...

"Yeah okay," she muttered. 

Together, they padded through the halls, guided by the dull yellowish glow of Cedric's lantern. Neither student talked. They merely walked. 

The girl would've felt awkward if she weren't so disheartened. Y/N didn't even know why she felt this way, but it made sense to be even the littlest bit angry. It wasn't Cedric's fault. But somehow it was at the same time. What did he ever do to her? Aside from being the absolutely gorgeous wizard he was. Merlin who let this boy get that pretty?

Y/N found herself feeling much more self conscious than before she encountered the Hufflepuff. She focused on every individual brick of stone that she passed for fear that she'd die if she looked at the boy instead.

"Are you alright?" he asked seemingly out of nowhere. Or Y/N had been more outwardly disgruntled than she thought. Oh no! What if she was looked like she didn't want Cedric around?!

"Oh it's nothing," she lied, waving her hand around carelessly. 

"What's that?" he pointed out.

"What's...oh-" The girl hastily stuffed her hand into the sleeve of Fred's jumper. Oh dear, what if she got blood on it? "Accident. Nothing to worry about," she blurted.

"May I?" he asked as he held out his hand. 

Thoughts of that night stumbled and crashed through Y/N's head. 

Y/N was a private person. She rarely ever shared her thoughts or deep emotions with anyone. Especially not her vulnerabilities. She just didn't know how most of the time.

But Cedric let her near that night. So she should do the same.

Hesitantly, she scrunched up the overly long sleeve and revealed her bloodied hand to the prefect. Blimey, it looked much worse than it felt. At this point, she'd been trudging through so much that her wound was nothing more than an inconveniencing dull ache in her palm. 

When she placed her upturned palm on the hufflepuff's she happily noted that all the blood had dried looked more of a crusty brown color. Much less alarming than when actual crimson droplets spewed out of her skin. 

"I suppose I should return the favor from the world cup," said Cedric. 

Y/N tensed in embarrassment. "Sorry again."

"You don't need to apologize."

"Right sorry. Oh uh sorry um I'll just stop talking now." What a fool this boy has made her into.

He only flashed that dazzling smile in amusement. "Terego." 

Y/N watched with slight awe as tiny pieces of her own dried plasma chipped away piece by piece and disappeared until her hand looked like it had been before the accident. Minus the gash of course. Speaking of, the wound didn't look too bad now. Most likely because it wasn't covered in the danger substance.

"Episkey," he mumbled. 

Y/N's hand sealed up and seemed to revert to the time before the spider harassed her. She opened and closed her hand a few times and was quite satisfied when her her now nonexistent wound didn't sting and burn when she did so. "Thanks."

"No problem. "

Y/N wasn't sure how much long she could take of this. Why did she have to get so nervous around him? He's only the most attractive, kind, sweet, and charming boy in Hogwarts. 

"Y'know, I was sort of hoping to see you under different circumstances," he said a bit shyly, as if testing new waters. 

Meanwhile, Y/N once again felt the horror of possibly getting in trouble. "Same," she absentmindedly replied, already wrapped up in the thought of her wilting away in detention. "Wait...huh?"

Cedric smiled knowingly but said nothing else.

Y/N had never been more happy to see the painting of the fat lady down the hallway. Apparently, this feeling was quite reciprocated by the painting, who sighed happily as the two approached. 

"My my, what have I done to be blessed by you two strapping young lovers. Not sneaking out at night for a rendezvous are we?" she asked with that full, hearty voice that could only belong to that one wine aunt who would gossip at every family reunion. Merlin, Y/N wished the fat lady was asleep right now.

"No, we're not..." Cedric started.

"A couple.." Y/N finished.

"But you two would make a great pair. You even finish each other's sentences! My, I haven't seen such a good looking pair since back in my hay day," she rambled. The two students gave each other a wonky look that yelled "I can't believe I'm hearing this right now." But both smiled at the absurdity of it all.

"Balderdash," Y/N sighed. 

Eventually, the fat lady quit her yammering and swung open the painting. "Night," she bid shyly, wondering if the way she said it sounded weird or not.

"I'll see you around Y/N," said he, before walking down the hall and disappearing from sight.

Said girl climbed through the portrait hole while wondering what that was supposed to mean. He was hoping to see her? He was going to see her around? Did that mean he wanted to see her? Or was he being polite? Did that count as flirting? There was no way anyone would flirt with her though. That was absurd. Maybe he was simply the type of person to flirt casually with people. Y/N had definitely heard of those types of people before. 

The common room was quite dim when she got to it. Though the fire was crackling ever so slightly, it was nearly gone. Unlike earlier, the two ginger heads of hair sticking out from the couch were shielded in darkness rather than burning in the firelight. 

"Hey," she greeted quietly. 

Two identical, happy faces turned to greet her. "Smooth talker now are we," they teased together.

"Shut up you dimwits. I'll have you know I didn't get detention or any house points taken off," she chirped as she sat-or more appropriately balanced- on the top of the couch. "I'd say that's a win if anything."

"Blimey, you're good," George complimented. 

"Thanks, I'm just brilliant like that." She yawned. "I'm going to sleep now. And if you two try to wake me again, I might just murder you this time."

"I'd like to see you try," Fred taunted. 

She stuck out her tongue, flicked his forehead, and slid off the couch lazily. "Night."

~

As usual, a groggy Y/N woke up to her friend harshly shaking her awake. The girl could've swore Hermione was saying something along the lines of "Ten minutes" and "Going to be late", but she was far too tired to care. 

"Five more minutes," she grumbled as she threw the sheets over her head for that much welcomed darkness, only to gasp when her comfort spot was violated. Her comfortable blanket was no longer on her ever so cold body, but in Hermione's hands. "You're so mean Hermioneeee," she whined, finally opening her crusty eyes and squinting at the fully dressed girl.

Drearily, Y/N tumbled out of bed and left to clean up for the day.

Now Y/N wasn't talented in much aside from sneaking around. She couldn't sing without croaking like an out of tune frog. She couldn't dance with her awful two left feet. She couldn't blow into an instrument even with the best teacher in the world. And she certainly wasn't the best wizard around. But at least she could practice the art of speeding through her morning routine like the flash.

In a few short minutes, the girl had already made herself presentable and thrown on her uniform. Though, she did so rather sloppily and skipped tucking her top into her skirt. Y/N decided she wouldn't be caught breaking uniform policy if she simply kept her robe on at all times.

Hermione was already waiting for the not so early bird in the common room. "How about next time, you let me sleep to the very last minute and I'll just skip breakfast?" the tired girl suggested.

Her bushy haired friend promptly delivered a smack to the girl's shoulder. "That's not how it works! You need to eat breakfast," Hermione scolded as she climbed out of the portrait hole with Y/N.

The two girls rushed down the halls in a routine like fashion. This type of behavior occurred far too many times for it not to be normal. Even other students knew better than to dawdle around the hallway when Hermione and Y/N were storming right through it. 

Though this day felt oddly out of routine. Yes the Beauxbatons and Durmstrangs were freely ranging bout the castle now, but the hallway seemed much more crowded than usual. She could give a free pass to the newcomers for not stepping aside, but even the returning students stopped in their tracks and shot double takes. 

"It's not my fault Fred and George convinced me to plant a dung bomb in Filch's office," Y/N muttered. 

Her friend skid to a halt with an expression of complete and utter shock on her face. "You must be joking! Breaking curfew! Planting that in a faculty's office!" she shrilly exclaimed. "You could've been caught and expelled!"

"Yes well I'll have you know I was caught, but NOT expelled," Y/N retorted as she continued walking but at a normal pace.

She wouldn't have thought it possible to push her friend to such a point, but Hermione was most certainly fuming. So much so that Y/N was just the tiniest bit nervous for once. "But he didn't take away house points or give me detention or anything!" she quickly added. "He just walked me back to the common room."

"Y/N you got lucky, but you've got to stop doing that."

"Doing wha- Oh pardon me," she yelped as she bumped into a random Durmstrang student. An attractive student too. Tall, sculpted jawline, curly dark brown hair, pretty hazel eyes. No doubt an upperclassman.

"No, the pleasure was all mine," the student replied strangely. "I'm Xander, by the way," he introduced, sticking out his hand to presumably shake. 

Y/N eyed his hand, then Hermione for some silent advice. "Y/N," she finally replied, giving him her own hand. In an unexpected turn of events, the boy named Xander promptly took her hand and raised it to his lips. A soft kiss was placed on Y/N's knuckles. 

The girl's eyes bulged out of her sockets and immediately darted to her friend. What the bloody hell was this. "I'll see you around," said the boy before walking off down the hall casually. 

"That was..."

"Strange...Let's just go."

Throughout breakfast, the girl stared blankly ahead. Now that she was not in motion, she was essentially a sloth. It wasn't until she made eye contact with Harry did she really wake up. "Y/N, it's time for class," said the boy.

"Right," she muttered before getting up out of the bench. 

"See ya later Y/N," the twins bid at the same time as she walked off with her three other friends. 

~

Arithmancy? Boring. Care of Magical creatures? Slightly boring. Herbology? Bland. History of Magic? Bland but with a spicy kick. 

Caroline Adwell. The only person Y/N knew before attending Hogwarts. An upbeat, charismatic, yet talented in qudditch and every other aspect of life, muggle. Unconventional, with an Italian background and possible ties to the muggle mafia, and a great grandfather who may or may not have assaulted an enemy with a fork to the eye. And unfortunately, a Ravenclaw. There wasn't anything wrong with being Ravenclaw. Just that it meant that Y/N would hardly ever have class with the girl. The only class the two shared just happened to be the worst one: History of Magic.

Though Professor Binns' constantly droning and lack of attention served as ample opportunity to chat within class. It wasn't like the professor would notice anyways. The ghost was too busy droning listlessly about French wizards and enchanted guillotines and whatnot.

"Someone's popular," the Ravenclaw observed.

"What?"

"Girl, everyone's been checking you out since you arrived," Caroline insisted.

"Um no. Why would they do that? Last time I checked, I still don't exist."

"Well check again. I don't know what that air in the states did to you but now you have these things," she stated, pointing at Y/N's chest, "And the face of a goddess."

"That's mad. I do not," the girl refuted.

"Sureee sweetie. And have you had any strange encounters with boys recently?"

"Well this one dude did that fancy hand kiss thing, but I'm sure he was being polite."

"Merlin Y/N! That boy was hitting on you! Who was it?" she exclaimed.

"He was not hitting on me Caroline. Like I said, he was just being polite. Maybe it's a cultural thing."

"Whatever you say Y/N. But if any boy starts harassing you, tell me. I'll fork them," she threatened. 

"Calm down, I don't need you to tear the mickey out of anyone."

~

Caroline's words, however, stuck to Y/N for the rest of the day. Not the forking of course, but the ones about boys. It was impossible not to think about that when at least four other boys reacted the same way that Xander bloke did. Not to mention, she'd met more boys than she'd ever need to in a lifetime. Suspicious to say the least.

So fine. Maybe Y/N was attractive. So what? She was still her, and she still only liked associating with her close circle of friends (Which now apparently included Cedric Diggory for some reason).

At least these strange interactions stopped by the second day. And when I say, stopped, I mean Y/N started taking ...alternative routes, and promising to meet up again with the trio in the next class. 

"Hey guys," she called, as she emerged from a random cell door, startling her friends who were only passing by the dungeons to get to potions.

"Blimey Y/N. How'd you get there?" Ron questioned.

"Lot of ladder climbing," she answered.

Harry and Hermione both paused to pat some dust off of their friend. Had to at least attempt to look presentable. Though maybe this was just a ploy from Harry to avoid potions class or at least stall their inevitable doom. Y/N too agreed with this method. She was absolutely horrendous at anything involving potions.

The classroom was just as dank, cold, and dark as she had last remembered it at the end of last term. Yet still, she hated it with a burning passion. The girl had been called on only to embarrass herself with the wrong answers farrrr too many times.

Unwillingly, she took her usual seat besides Hermione and waited. 3....2....1.

The door slammed open and in came the teacher that Y/N and Harry hated the most. His dark robes swished marvelously across the floor as the professor stormed into the classroom. Y/N sighed under her breath. So dramatic.

"We will begin this year with a project, given your deplorable exam scores from the previous year. You will be assigned a partner for this project, but you will not be given class time to work on this. Written here is a list of potions you and your partner must brew for the other to drink by next month. You will document your findings in an essay and turn it in by November."

Y/N's head snapped to throw a horrified look at her friends. Since when did they do partnered projects in this school? For potions of all subjects too. And wasn't Snape even the least bit concerned for poisonings. Merlin that was a lot of work!

"The best students will be paired..with the worst," the teacher continued.

And like that, Y/N was no longer in panic mode. It was perfect. Hermione was arguably the best student in class, and Y/N was comparably one of the worst! Hermione would be forced to help the girl in potions and they would both get a decent grade.

"Now, I will begin listing your partners. Harry Potter with Neville Longbottom-" 

Expected. Of course Snape would stick to the houses. What Slytherin would ever want to fraternize with a Gryffindor? 

"Hermione Granger with Pavarti Patil." Oh brilliant, Y/N's hope was absolutely destroyed. She visibly frowned as her back slouched in the stool. Well this was a rather disappointing turn of events. The girl's eyes began scanning the classroom's Gryffindors in wonder of who she'd be paired with. Her next best option, believe it or not, seemed to be Ron. After all, he did help brew the Polyjuice potion back in their second year, and he wasn't too bad in this class. Plus, she was already good friends with Ron and didn't need to engage in any awkward introductory type conversations or small talk.

"Y/N L/N with Draco Malfoy."

'WHAT?!'


	6. Week One

Y/N was going to poison Draco Malfoy. She was going to brew up an inedible, brat-murdering, corrupted Calming draught, and Malfoy would take one sip of it and pass away. Merlin! His father was REALLY going to hear about this. Y/N would be sent to Azkaban to wilt away in a cell simply because she was horrible at potions. She shivered at the thought, causing Harry to send her a look from his desk. How he wished he could find some way to talk to the girl. Whether to comfort her or express his anger, he had no idea.

The shell shocked girl stared wide eyed and with a mouth so large she could compete with the Basilisk in unhinging its jaw. She felt panic, fear, anxiety, and many more rattle through her sad bones in the form of a chill down her spine. There was no other place to look other than at the daddy's boy himself. 

Snape had moved on calling partners in his usual lifeless manner, but Y/N was still stuck on Draco.

The blonde only shot an icy glare in his future partner's direction before focusing on his parchment. The longer Y/N gawked, the more baffled she became. Rather than settling in and processing, the information ransacked her brain. Draco Malfoy was going to be her partner. THE Draco Malfoy. The Draco Malfoy who hated her and her friends with a burning passion, ignored the girl for four years, purposely bumped into her in the hallways just to knock her over, and convinced the entire Slytherin house to pretend she wasn't alive. The same Draco Malfoy who was positively fuming to the point where Y/N thought his book would burn and shrivel to ashes with how he glowered at it.

But perhaps Y/N too would be the next to combust. For the girl sitting just behind the prince of Slytherin was eyeing Y/N like she had just killed her pet owl and thrown its carcass at her. Horrified. Yet so extremely, undeniably pissed. Maybe her father would also hear about this. Y/N could never be too sure when it came to those pureblood Slytherins.

"Pssst..Hermione," she whispered.

"What?" Hermione snapped, sounding quite annoyed that her precious learning time was being interrupted.

"Who's that?" Y/N asked, pointing subtly to the girl who had yet to stop attacking her with her with a sharp death glare.

"That's Pansy Parkinson,"

"Yes, alright, but any idea why she's trying to bury me six feet under with just her eyes?" 

So Y/N was sort of out of the loop when it came to anyone and everyone outside of her close friends and a good portion of the Gryffindor house, but could you blame her? The poor girl just wanted to cozy up in her bed with a good muggle book in her lap. 

"She's fancied Draco since forever. Really how oblivious can you be?"

"Ten points from Gryffindor for squabbling during a lesson," Snape drawled from across the classroom. 

Y/N heard a few groans, quite a loud one from Ron too, and immediately shrunk into herself. Oops. "Sorry," she whispered to a less than pleased Hermione.

~

Y/N was beyond stressed. Maybe that was why she was slouching dejectedly on the old wooden table aside the crackling fire of the Hogwarts kitchen in the middle of the night. The girl could've cared less about her weight or how unladylike she looked while she stuffed one strawberry after another into her mouth like some sort of fruit gremlin. The nearby house elves said nothing, but did but bring another bowl of the crimson fruit.

No matter how much she loved the treat however, the girl was still far from comforted. Once the last strawberry had been devoured, Y/N threw her head onto the table and groaned. She was beyond dead. Possibly even dementor's kiss beyond dead. She did hear quiet an unsettling amount about the "fate worse than death".

It had been two horrible, horrible days since her fate had been announced by the old, greasy codger. An image of the backside of Malfoy's robes flowing as he slipped out of Potions still burned in her mind. In fact, several fleeting images of bits of the blonde crossed her mind. 

Y/N wasn't exactly trying her hardest to talk to or interact with the Slytherin, but the project still needed to be completed somehow and he was avoiding the girl like she were a rat and the black plague was upon them. Sure he probably thought of her on the same level as a rodent, but at least a rodent had the slightest bit of chance of concocting a brew. Y/N was going to fail and blow up her cauldron, alone.

"Thought we'd find you here," two voices announced quite unexpectedly.

Y/N was far from frightened or startled in spite of her tendency to jump at anything too abrupt. It was definitely Malfoy's fault for making her dejected and listless in the first place. That's it. Y/N was going to start blaming Malfoy for everything and there was nothing he could do to stop her from it. 

"Leave me alone to cry in peace," she moaned, refusing to lift her heavy head from the scratchy wood. If only she did, for she would've caught the two pairs of lovesick eyes gazing fondly at their best friend. But fate wasn't quite ready for the girl to know just yet.

"What's got your wand in a knot?" One of them asked- presumably Fred, who Y/N knew to have the higher pitched voice of the twins.

"That bloody wanker Malfoy, hasn't talked to me about the stupid potions project yet! I don't even want to talk to the brat, but he's still my partner! What do I dooooooo," she cried helplessly.

"With language like that, no wonder the bloke doesn't want to talk to you," Fred jived.

Y/N lifted her head to glare at the ginger before shoving him away in mock annoyance. However, her false irritation was quickly forgotten when she saw the small bowl of strawberries just a few inches in front of where her head previously lay. 

The tiny shred of happiness didn't last long as it still wouldn't solve her Malfoy problem. The girl's face fell as she plucked the red fruit from the bowl and bit into it with a sort of pout on her face. Oh if only the strawberry were filled with poison so she could simply pass away.

"You don't need the brat," they assured. "We can help you do your project. And we're much better."

Y/N let a fraction of a smile slip. Well at least she knew she was in good hands. So maybe they'd most definitely, absolutely get off track and possibly, most likely end up committing arson while they studied together. They'd one it once before; the last three pages of George's textbook would not be missed. But at least she'd pass the class. Malfoy be damned! Y/N was going to get her work done no matter what.

"Thanks guy-GEORGE!!" 

Y/N stared incredulously at where a chunk of her strawberry should have been. Instead, it was in the mouth of the boy who she should've noted was eyeing the fruit situated between her two fingers the entire time. She huffed and stuffed the rest of her plundered fruit into George's mouth. He only grinned goofily and sent one of his dumb winks. "My strawberry," she pouted, only to receive a signature head pat from the boy.

She should've known. They had gone too long without stealing each other's food anyways. 

"Ughhhh, I'm too tired to go on. Carry me," she playfully demanded as she stuck her hands like a child out towards George. Might as well make the strawberry thief work to repay his fruity debt.

"Alright, your majesty," he teased. The tall boy stood up and placed his hands on Y/N's waist before hoisting her up and over his shoulder. Yes, George Weasley was carrying Y/N L/N like a potato sack. Embarrassing. 

With a beet red face, she pounded lightly on his broad back with her fists. "Not like that you idiot!" she exclaimed. 

"Yeah George. Hand her over, I'll show you how to carry a lady," Fred injected. 

"Wait no!" Y/N yelped.

But alas, the poor witch managed to find herself being carried by both brothers. Since the day at the burrow, the twins seemed to have figured out a method of transporting their younger friend. George enjoyed the privilege of holding onto his friend's hands, while his older brother by a few minutes had the duty of latching onto her ankles. Essentially, the girl had become a human swing. Oh how she hoped that wasn't the idea.

"Ready Fred?"

"Ready George."

What?!"

~

Y/N was strange for a witch. Even with half of a wizard lineage floating around in her bloodstream, she still thought and acted like a complete muggle. Even Caroline was less of a muggle than Y/N was, and she had no wizard blood in her at all! 

The young witch stared at the small, neatly folded parchment on her desk with bafflement before throwing glances at every single student in her defense against the dark arts class. Who would leave a note for her? She never got notes. Hell, none of her friends had ever gotten notes either. Not by this method at the very least. 

She took one last once over at her surroundings before finally settling on her seat and picking up the note. Her hands made quick work of unveiling the paper before Hermione's shadow cast over her desk. 

"What's that?" she asked curiously.

"I'm not really sure," Y/N answered as she halted her actions. She was a witch after all. She attended a school for witchcraft and wizardry for Merlin's sake! She wouldn't be surprised if it were some exploding product of the twins' crazy minds. Would have certainly started yet another prank war between the friends; one that Y/N would be sure to lose.

"Well, open it!" The brunette demanded.

"Alright alright!" Y/N finally unfolded the paper only to see nothing. Not a single word. Just a blank piece of wasted paper. "Oh...." she breathed. "I suppose someone from the last class forgot their paper on my desk."

Hermione quickly lost interest and began flipping through the extraordinarily large book that accompanied the DADA book already on her desk. Looks like Hermione had already taken a trip to the library. Something Y/N had yet to do this term.

Then out of the corner of her eye, Y/N noticed something dark and shiny spreading across her paper. She gasped softly and splayed the parchment on her desk, careful to avoid the letters. So someone enchanted the ink. The girl wasn't exactly sure how, but she guessed that this mysterious person didn't want anyone else but her to see. But wasn't there a similar case between Harry and one Tom Marvolo Riddle? 

The girl eyed her messy haired friend. As long as she didn't interact with the paper, she'd be fine right? Her E/C eyes quickly scanned over the neat writing in fear that she was reading something that shouldn't be read in class. Like possibly a threat or confession of undying love.

"Library..Last Row..4 o clock... Monday..DM..." She whispered to herself.

"What'd you say?" Hermione, the ever so observant one, asked.

"Nothing!" Y/N squawked as she shoved the parchment under the desk. "Oh look! Professor's here," She yelped, happy for a diversion.

The professor strutted into class with an unmatched, intimidating confidence before halting center stage "Alastor Moody," he introduced gruffly. "Ex-Auror, Ministry malcontent...and your new defense against the Dark arts teacher."

Y/N had heard a lot about this Mad Eye Moody from her ginger menaces. Where Ron may have spoken about his reputation, the twins had the opportunity to experience the auror's teaching methods first hand. So far, exceptional things. But these were also the twins, so Moody's teaching style had to be at the least extremely unconventional.

"When it comes to the dark arts, I believe in a practical approach." And there it was. Y/N eyed the suspicious jars of bugs and creepy crawlies, wondering if he'd set those vile creatures onto the class like Professor Lockhart had done back in their second year. "But first, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?" 

Hermione's ever so eager hand shot up into the sky, and was fortunately chosen to answer. If not, all that time Hermione was spending on answering the professor's questions would have been spent with the nerdy girl's hand still hovering in the air. 

While all the attention was on Hermione and the professor, Y/N took this opportunity to prop up on her hand and lean against it. After all, everyone had to have a thinking position. Y/N's just happened to be any pose she found comfortable. Now....Who was DM? 

"You need to find another place to put your chewing gum beside the underside of your desk mister Finnigan!" Moody roared, his voice echoing across the room and filling up all the ears of his students. Y/N's slouching back straightened like a slap bracelet as she exited her thoughts to return back to reality. 

"The old codger can see out the back of his head," Seamus complained to his seatmate. The girl found yet another reason to stay alert as their teacher hurled his piece of chalk at the boy. Her eyes widened as she ducked along with the rest of the classroom in fear of being hit. 

Y/N watched as the crazy man singled out Ron and made him stand. Suddenly, she was quite scared of being called on and not having an answer. Her heart rate sped up to an unnerving pace as she racked her jumbled brain for any unforgivable curse she could think of. When her wandering eyes landed on her dark haired best friend however, she couldn't help but feel incredibly guilty. There was the killing curse of course...

But still...Who was DM? Surely Y/N's lack of knowledge of the students attending her school couldn't have been that bad. It wasn't like she was so hopeless that she couldn't even name a single student other than her friends. She just couldn't recall any important names in her memory.

Lazily, her eyes followed the devil arachnid creature monster as it flew across the classroom (against its will unfortunately). Her eyebrows scrunched every time the unreasonably large spider appeared with fifteen feet of the the girl. Though that wasn't the only reason. She swore the unknown person was at the tip of her tongue. Hopefully someone cute. Was that too shallow of her? Maybe just a little, but wouldn't it be fun if they were cute?

And so it would seem the spider had finally been flung to the farthest reach of the classroom. Straight onto the one and only Draco Malfoy.

The sinking feeling of complete and utter despair had returned. Yes Y/N was a little relieved that her official partner was in contact with her now, but she far too disappointed. She'd have much rather preferred to work with the twins instead of the spoiled brat. 

At least he was cute. Sadly a foul personality came with the pretty, pale face.

~

The only good thing about that Friday, was that it was a Friday. Y/N kept the folded up parchment in her robe pockets the entire day, opening it up again every period just in the hopes that the letters would magically change, or to check if it was really addressed to her.

It was later that night when she was splayed out on the couch across the blazing fire of the Gryffindor common room when she disclosed of the letter's information. The reactions were exactly like she had expected. Less than pleased. No one liked Malfoy, but at least they were lucky Y/N had gotten the boy. She never openly hated on him, and she was the only one who had yet to attack or attempt to attack Malfoy. 

Breaking the news to the twins was much sadder than she would have liked to admit. Not a single Weasley liked Draco very much, but the two identical Weasleys supposed that they could let him live if he didn't bother their Y/N. 

When that fated Monday afternoon came, Y/N had to reluctantly force her feet to carry the rest of her body to the library. It came as a surprise when none other than Harry offered to walk the girl to her doom. She appreciated it greatly. Given Harry's complete loathing of the Slytherin after all. It was rather strange that he was alright with seeing her off. 

"Thanks Harry," she muttered quietly. 

"Y-yeah no problem. Don't...Don't let Malfoy get to you okay. He'd just foul." It was rather sweet of Harry to attempt to give Y/N advice. Even if he wasn't too great of a talker, it was okay because Y/N wasn't either. She still understood his message nonetheless. 

She merely gave an unsure smile at the boy before trudging on into the library's cozy world.

Y/N knew this place just as well as Hermione did. After all, many a days did the girl spend holed up, searching for books from the muggle literature section. Labeled shelves passed by, blurring into the girl's peripherals. Indeed, it was quite a task to search for the allusive muggle story when witches and wizards looked down on muggles, and Madame Pince's library organization system catered to no one but the librarian herself.

Arrived. The furthest row from the entrance, tucked away behind a useless pile of books the librarian found no use in organizing. The useless corner. Far from the sharp ears of the protector of knowledge, Madame Pince. It was dim, but far from dark. Old but far from dusty. Somewhat inaccessible and very much untouched. The library rarely filled up enough for students to need to go through the trouble of squeezing past all those books just to get a desk to study at. Unless it was time for the OWL exams. 

The girl shimmied through the tiny gap between the stacked stories and quickly spotted the platinum blonde boy sitting at the table and gazing out the window with his chin propped up on his hand. Y/N found herself confused.

She had to admit, Draco looked quite nice when he wasn't being a prat. Not a sneer in sight nor rude remark. He was just sitting peacefully and perhaps, thinking. Had this been first or second year, Y/N's immature preteen self wouldn't have bat an eye at throwing the boy out a window while he was blatantly ignoring her.

But girls do mature rather quickly. Or maybe, it was because he had stopped styling his pretty blonde locks into a slicked back look that made her feel like punching his face. Even in the wizarding world, hair worked magic. Draco looked softer with his hair down. Less aggressive. More attractive.

Even if it was a planned rendezvous, Y/N felt as if she were intruding on something she shouldn't have. So she shrunk into herself, trying to make herself smaller and trying to disappear. 

Quietly, she approached the boy and pulled out the chair directly across from him. Her enemy by association merely looking at her with a stony face before grabbing his potions book and throwing it open, rather harshly might I add. Additionally, the now less than peaceful Slytherin tossed his notes on the table. 

Y/N squirmed uncomfortably in her seat, not knowing what she was supposed to be doing. Were they not going to talk? What was the point of the partner project aside from poisoning them and seeing what would happen? Did she even need to be here?

The girl placed the textbook she had brought with her onto the table. In a manner that was nothing like what Draco had just done. As she flipped through the pages, she started to dread the assignment more and more. Whereas other classes at least required a somewhat practical, hands on approach to learning-aside from history of magic, where she avidly cheated off of Hermione or Caroline-potions required so much memorization and perfectly followed instruction.

Y/N figured that she would at least get started on writing down the list of items needed for their first brew. Only problem was that she forgot where the ingredients came from, looked like, smelled like, or did. The girl definitely should have studied those materials much better back in first year because it was coming back to haunt her.

Wizarding world terminology just sucked sometimes. It took the poor muggle-ized girl a whole twenty minutes to figure out that belladonna had four names, what Drachm Calendula was, and how it get its pollen. She nearly slapped herself in front of Draco once she found out that it was merely a type of marigold.

"Are you dense? You stupid twit." Draco spat out of seemingly nowhere. To Y/N at least. In reality, the boy had been throwing glances at the obviously struggling girl and growing more bitter with every look. This was Draco's grade on the line here. And the imbecile known as Y/N was just barely figuring out what belladonna was when Draco had already written down his list of ingredients, their properties, and where to find them. 

Let's not forget the teeny weeny fact that the boy who claimed to hate all Gryffindors, couldn't help but to sneak a few looks at one. It wasn't a crime to look at pretty people, but to Draco it felt as if he would be sent to Azkaban for ogling at the girl in front of him. The mere thought made him bitter. A Slytherin? bothering to interact with a Gryffindor? Ridiculous.

"Yes." 

A confused expression crossed Draco's face for a second before a deep scowl replaced it. Almost everyone would be offended or defensive. What was wrong with this girl?

Y/N was offended. She didn't like being called stupid when she was just inadequate. She would have him know she was at the very least decent at muggle literature, but her partner would've scoffed at her weak defense. And to some degree, Malfoy was right. The girl really sucked at potions to the point where it was embarrassing.

"Twat. I'm going to put all of these wrong ingredients into your potion when I brew it, you know that right? If you don't start talking and help me, it's your life on the line," She stated as calmly as possible whilst staring straight into his mesmerizing steele eyes. Gorgeous really.

"Is that a threat?" He questioned, leaning forward and engaging in the battle of will. At some point it became nothing more than a petty staring contest. Neither party felt comfortable enough to be this close to one another, nor did they expect to stare straight at a person and think of how attractive the other was. Draco had pretty eyes too, Y/N had come to note. And Y/N had dazzling eyes too, Draco had come to realize. 

He was not quite as angry as she expected him to be, which was extremely strange given his normally explosive behavior. In fact, he didn't really look angry at all. Just disgruntled.

Y/N needed to end this before she got herself into something she shouldn't. "Yup!" She chirped cheerily, popping the p. 

The boy sighed heavily and leaned back onto the old seat. Well, Y/N won whatever this was. Or so she thought. 

The salty Slytherin stood up hastily from his seat, gathered his belongings, and stormed out without another word. The girl could've sworn she caught some "stupid Gryffindors" and "My father will hear about this" as he did so. 

Before she could stop them, the words seemed to spill from her lips. "I know the law baby. Tell your daddy, I dare you." (She did not know the law.)The boy stood, shell shocked at Y/N's strange language. "Now sit your pretty pampered little ass down before I make you," she continued, faking what little confidence she had grown. The girl had a project to do and wouldn't be putting up with the bully's attitude today.

"I don't take orders from filthy commoners like you," he spat angrily. Boy did this kid have issues.

Y/N really thought her approach was spot on. Apparently being on the offensive made things worse. Who would've guessed. Literally everyone. Malfoy was pretty much the worst person to ever be around. He was pretty much enemies with everyone. It was hard to think that he had friends. Let alone close friends. Maybe he didn't though. It would definitely have explained why the boy was so foul all the time.

"Please?" She meekly begged. 

Draco paused for a second. Aside from the fact that he'd never heard anyone use this language on him, he never understood why he stayed. He should've kept walking but he didn't. He wanted to stay. 

"Fine." 

Y/N's face lit up in a puppy dog like manner. Draco wouldn't even admit it to himself but it was cute in a way. The way her eyes twinkled with mirth and her lips pulled apart to a cartoonish length, one could only describe it as adorable.

Her eyes continued twinkling as they followed the Slytherin back to his seat expectantly. "What're you staring at?" he snapped. 

"Nothing!" she squeaked but with a smile nonetheless.

~

Y/N shuffled back to the common room alone that night, thinking about the rude boy. The girl was surprised by what the spoiled child would do for a grade. From what she'd caught glimpses of previously, Draco was decent at school. But just from asking all those questions in their study session, Y/N could tell he had exceeded her expectations. Rude, antagonistic, foul, annoying, and downright a cunt at times, but he was smart.

Seriously, if he weren't so outwardly a twat, the boy could've been known around school for more than his bullying, pretty face, money, or heritage. It was a shame really. He was really an okay bloke when his mouth was shut and wasn't twisted into a nasty sneer. 

It was unfortunate that the only way the teenager knew how to talk was with hurtful, nasty words. Every single question he begrudgingly answered was accompanied by judgement and some sort of insult. 

Y/N never took them to heart though. Not when she finally understood that he didn't always mean the words that spilled out of his unfiltered mouth. He just got annoyed easily and had somewhat of a issue with anger. Well as much of an issue as your average brooding teenage boy. 

At some point, though, the girl grew tired of being called an oaf every time she asked a question. It was closing time in the library anyways, so she packed up her supplies and left after a curt goodbye. She may have been irritated, but at least Y/N had manners.

The girl bounced a little as she hopped over the couch's back and launched herself onto its red cushions. Hermione lowered an impossibly large book from her sight to acknowledge her exasperated friend. She grimaced at Y/N's tired eyes.

"How'd it go?" Harry asked from his spot on the carpeted floor. Y/N further slid from the seat to the floor like a blob, next to her black haired friend to prove her point. 

"Tolerable. Only when he shuts his mouth though. Still doesn't stop him from being a prick," she grumbled. 

"No offense Y/N, but I'm glad it's not me. I wouldn't know how to deal with Malfoy," Ron commented. 

Y/N would've slapped the ginger, but her frizzy haired friend beat her to it. Guess it saved the girl from more activity. At this point, she just wanted to sleep and never think about the boy for at least another week. 

Harry stared at his friend with concern. Though this concern soon turned to hardened hate. Malfoy was a prick and Harry hated him. That was a fact. But if the bloody Slytherin ever hurt his dear friend, the boy wouldn't hesitate to hex him with whatever spells he could think of. Even if it was the cruciatus curse.

A nudge to his arm pulled the boy out of his mini rage session. His much too pretty for her own good friend sat less than a foot away from him, her legs crossed with her knee barely being able to lay on top of his own crossed legs. 

She gave him a smile that was much different than the unsure one he received earlier that day. This one told him proudly that she had everything handled perfectly fine.

The emerald eyed boy had just come to realized that he liked the way his friend smiled. "I got this!" she asserted confidentially to her group of friends. A silent agreement passed around the group. When Y/N set out to do something, she accomplished it no matter what.

Despite his trust in his friend, the chosen one still felt a bit unnerved by the fact that Y/N would have to spend time with his sworn enemy. He just.. Didn't like it.

On the other hand, Y/N knew she had this in the bag. Malfoy was a brilliant student, probably gifted in other areas too. Maybe she could use this to her advantage. The girl let her thoughts wander around aimlessly as she stared into the fire. Y/N just couldn't help but wonder if Malfoy liked to read. Surely he did. If not, how would he have found that dark corner of the library-the one that even Hermione had yet to touch-, Y/N's corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No hate against Slytherins in case you thought I described them too harshly. I myself am a proud Slytherin lol.


	7. The Puking Pug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N has trouble opening up sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chronological order? Don't know her. Try to keep up with the flashbacks ;)

The young L/N didn't show up to work on the project the next Monday. 

Now Y/N wasn't one to change when she'd already set her mind on something, but she never squeezed through those dusty, decrepit books at four o clock after school that day. 

She wasn't with the twins, or Harry or Hermione or Ron or Caroline. And she definitely wasn't with Draco Malfoy. So where could Y/N L/N be?

As the lone teenager sat rigidly in the dark without a single sliver of light, she too wondered where she was. She wondered about many things in that space. How her friends were doing, how her parents were faring, how the floor was so uncomfortable, how long it would take her to get out, and how she had gotten in there in the first place.

It started that afternoon. No. Almost a week and a few days ago.

All because Pansy Parkinson fancied Draco Malfoy. But then again, who wouldn't?

Y/N should've been more worried about the girl who'd been glaring tiny holes into the side of her head for something she couldn't control, but she really wasn't. If the Gryffindor had the balls, she would've marched up to the unsatisfied Slytherin and demanded to switch places with the girl. If Pansy wanted Draco so badly, she could have him. But she didn't.

So Miss. L/N ignored whatever the Slytherin girl had thought she was doing for the past week. Clearly, Pansy's intimidation strategy wouldn't stop her self proclaimed lover from interacting with a girl that was now the prettiest in school. Miss Parkinson wasn't too secure with her ability to keep the broody, distant boy, so she fixed it the only way she could think of.

Y/N didn't mention it to anyone that week. Not Harry, nor Ron, nor the twins, nor Hermione, nor Caroline. There was no possible way Y/N could get a stalker at that age, and surrounded by kids that had much better things to do with their time. So she ignored it, passing off the unsettling feeling of eyes on the back of her head as nothing. Besides, these prying eyes weren't present at night when Y/N was sneaking out past curfew for snacks, so she concluded that it was completely harmless. If the unknown witch or wizard wanted to do something, they could've already.

Y/N carried on with her life at Hogwarts as she normally did. Studied with her friends in the common room, gorged herself on treacle tart when it was available at supper, snuck out at night, Nearly fell off the clock tower after being persuaded by the twins to dangle Filch's keys off the sizeable bell that hung at the very top. So the usual.

Even terrifyingly alone with no one to talk to but the walls, Y/N managed to crack a goofy smile at the memory. Through the thick fabric of her black school robes, the girl could feel the ghost of Fred's hands on her waist, keeping her from falling over the railing.

Oh how she wished to be back in the clock tower nearly falling off a railing just to play a mean trick with her two (almost) favorite Weasleys: they still couldn't cook, so Molly Weasley would remain the favorite until they learned to.

The girl's barely perceivable (E/C) eyes gazed at the nearly pitch black floor. Her fingers traced the seams of her school robe, taking in the soft texture and slowly coming to appreciate how she'd never found them uncomfortable. 

In the dark, Y/N wondered if she was going insane yet. There was no light source, and her wand was off in some unknown location. The girl wasn't much for a timekeeper, and could only guess that she'd been in this place for what? Three hours maybe? It could've been ten minutes. Maybe even five, but time was nonexistent in the shadows with only her fleeting thoughts to keep her company. 

There was absolutely nothing to do. She'd even begun wishing to return to the study hall to do her schoolwork. But noooo, Y/N just had to finish early to go to the library to read her silly little muggle books. 

If she'd stayed behind and finished her work just the tiniest bit slower, maybe she could've been walking with Harry to the library right now. She'd have much rather preferred that over her current scenario. And not just because she was stuck in some broom cupboard somewhere in the castle, but because she liked being with Harry.

Harry was calm, mostly quiet, somewhat of a pacifist if Y/N was being honest. But she really liked that about the boy. Hermione could be overbearing sometimes and Ron was a little too blunt for Y/N's liking. The black haired boy was just right. Great company to be around and always sweet and caring in that awkward way.

Y/N just liked hanging with Harry Potter. It felt like second nature to her. Neither talked very much unless they needed to, but that was alright. They didn't need to attempt to make small talk and such, and that was brilliant for Y/N.

But no matter how hard she tried to think of happy thoughts, the event of her arrival always seemed to come back. Her fingers began to grip the edges of her robe instead and wrinkled the fabric as she pictured the scene. She tried not to be too emotional about it, fearing that her friends or a stranger would discover her with tears dripping down her face, squished into the corner, in the dark.

She was a bit emotional at first, pounding on the door and screaming "let me out" like her life depended on it. Though she soon realized the perpetrators weren't going to let her out. Not until her study session with the Slytherin Prince was over.

Y/N was neither angry or scared or panicked when she reviewed that fresh memory. 

It was too straight forward. There was really nothing the girl could've done to avoid it when it happened. The lovesick Slytherin girl an entourage, nothing a unathletic bookish girl could stave off. They ambushed Y/N around the corners of the second floor corridor, a good three minute sprint away from safety. 

Though, it was surprising that the group used brute force instead of magic on her. Maybe they hadn't learned any spells to match this precarious situation yet. There was also no way they could've threatened Y/N with their wands. Especially not when Y/N was Harry Potter's best friend. Everyone knew the disarming spell was his number one go-to specialty.

'Smart," Y/N thought. Pansy had brought two of her foul friends with her. A tall, blonde girl whom Y/N had never gotten to the know the name of, and an athletic looking boy with spiky Brown hair. She wondered if the boy could have been into quidditch, since it seemed to be the only prominent wizard sport around.

Despite her disadvantage, Y/N didn't go down without a fight. When her wand was snatched away from her by the pug-faced girl, the Gryffindor resorted to all sorts of methods. Kicking, biting, scratching, punching. 

If she ever got out of the tiny broom cupboard they had shoved her into, Y/N was going to have to check whether a big purple bruise would form on the blonde girl's left eye. Or if the quidditch player's hand would show a mark after she bit into it to yell bloody murder. 

One thing was for sure though. She knew her friends would be proud. Though her parents would not be satisfied to hear that Y/N may have lost her wand in the scuffle. She frowned at the thought of a lost or broken wand for the rest of the year, and how much Ron struggled with his broken wand their second term. Oh her mother was going to kill her when she found out!

With nothing else to do, the lonely girl closed her eyes and pictured every single moment she could. Walking. Then being snatched by two pairs of arms. The sudden realization that the arms were nowhere near any of her friends'. 

Then she was staring at a pug. No! It was mean to think of Pansy as a pug right? Or was it okay because the Slytherin girl and her gang shoved Y/N into a closet somewhere in the second floor? Either way, the girl could faintly recall Miss Parkinson snatching her wand and saying someone about keeping Y/N away from her "Draci-poo." 

Oh Merlin! Draci-poo! If she ever got out of the damned broom cupboard, she would never stop calling her potions partner Draci-poo. Because honestly! Who would want to be called Draci-poo?!

Even Y/N wouldn't wish that type of nickname upon any of her worst enemies. If she even had any enemies. 

A flash of hot anger accompanied with a chill of panic raced through her body. She was really stuck in a dank, dusty, musty storage cupboard, alone. Oh what was she going to do!? There was no use in screaming or thrashing against the door. The second floor corridor was rarely traversed by students (Not at this time anyways) and it was likely that Pansy had put some type of silencing charm on the wood.

Once again, another thing that Y/N was not the most brilliant at was athleticism. There was absolutely no way she could kick down or bust through the door. The door itself was probably older than Dumbledore for Merlin's sake! Currently that was the only old person she could think of, but the point still stood. 

Unless that meant that it would've been rotted or weakened over time. Not a bad theory. With more vigor than before, the girl jumped into a standing position and readied herself. Mentally at least. Y/N was still but a teenage girl so really how could she have prepared herself to ram into a piece of wood?

With all her energy, she charged at the door. THUMP! and a groan. Bad idea. Horrible really. The tired girl slid to the floor and hissed as she gripped her shoulder. It would either bruise or be extremely sore. Or both. 

That feeling of chilly helplessness crawled back into her veins and drained Y/N of all her energy. She tried not to cry as she laid her head against the rough, stone wall beside the door. Fortunately, she was best friends with the dark. So she let the suffocating darkness embrace her as she closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing.

And eventually, there was no need to manually steady her every inhale and exhale for the calm lull of sleep stole away the tired girl's consciousness and promised her of sweet dreams.

~

It wasn't Hermione. No. Whoever's hand was gently shaking her shoulder was nothing like Hermione's hurricane wake up calls. It was someone she'd awoken to before. Someone who she was glad to be guiding her back to consciousness. 

Harry!

Her E/C eyes shot open to stare at a pair of brilliant green irises. Without thinking, Y/N launched herself off the floor and onto her savior and friend. Her arms found their way around his neck as she crashed into his unprepared body. Both teens fell onto the floor in a way almost reminiscent of that fateful day at the Quidditch world cup. 

Oh how she missed human interaction! And that was saying a lot, since she usually preferred to keep away from it.

The now emancipated girl spotted the wand that she had accidentally knocked out of her friend's hand, then gasped. She quickly made use of what little light was provided by the corridor's torches to search for her own discarded magical tool. Meanwhile, Harry merely got up off the floor and stared, dumbfounded at his friend's strange behavior. 

E/C orbs landed on a dark brown stick protruding from the hand of a nearby statue and widened. The teen's swift legs carried her to the stone figure and her fingers deftly snatched her prized possession back. The girl then turned back to her friend, who continued to stare at her.

Harry's thick eyebrows were furrowed together and his mouth was in a thin line. Y/N could now see that he was breathing somewhat heavily as if he had been running, and his marauder's map was crinkled lightly in his hand. 

"What? Why were you in the cupboard? Where have you been all this time?" He demanded, almost angrily: the type of angry that a loved one would use when their friend was doing something stupid. 

"I...Well-"She began.

"Y/N! There you are! We've been looking all over for you!" Hermione shouted from the end of the hallway as she and Ron jogged up to the girl. 

The girl's eyes flickered between her friends ,and she felt a surge of pride at what wonderful friends she had discovered. A wonky grin sprung onto the girl's pretty features as she thought about it. Hermione-bless her frazzled motherly soul- smacked her friend's shoulder with disbelief.

"Why are you smiling?! We've been looking everywhere for you!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, we knew something must've happened when you didn't show up for supper but Malfoy did," said Ron.

"Did they have custard tart tonight?" the girl asked absentmindedly, now realizing how hungry she was.

"Y/N!" Harry snapped, "Why were you in that cupboard?" he finally asserted, and sadly interrupted Ron who was about to say that she did in fact miss the custard tart that night and would have to wait until they served it again in a few days.

"Fine," the girl grumbled, walking on towards the direction of the grand staircase so her body had something to do while she talked. Or else she wouldn't have known how to function due to awkwardness. "So...You know Pansy Parkinson?" She started.

"Yeah, Pug Faced Pansy. What about her?" replied Ron. Meanwhile, Hermione's much quicker brain put two and two together and she gasped. Harry's less genius but still intelligent, driven mind did so soon after.

"Well...You see...She and her friends sort of shoved me into a closet and threw my wand away. But we're all good now! So no need to worry!" She quickly assured, eager to calm her friends down. It wasn't that Y/N wasn't mad-she definitely was. The girl just knew better than to make a scene out of it or to cry out into angered outbursts.

"I can't believe those Slytherins!" cried Ron furiously. "Evil I tell you! Every one of them! We have to do something!" 

Harry, the ever so silent one watched on, his brows still furrowed with displeasure. Harry wasn't one to take revenge unless extremely provoked, and now was definitely the time. He just didn't know what to do. Storm the Slytherin common room? Fight a girl? Both were extremely bad ideas. But still, he wanted so desperately to charge up and wreck the entire house. 

"We still have to do something!" Harry shouted.

"Tell Professor Mcgonagall." Hermione suggested.

"Can you all just quiet down! I just want to go sleep right now okay." Y/N finally shouted over them. One look at Harry's murderous eyes told Y/N he wasn't going down without a fight. Though Y/N admired how loyal the chosen one was, she was sore from the closet and wouldn't be dealing with it tonight. 

"But-" he started.

"No buts," she countered sternly before hurrying up the shifting stair case. Harry quickly caught up to the girl and attempted to get her to look at him. 

They were at the 6th floor now. "What about tomorrow morning?" Y/N paused to stare into his pretty green eyes and sighed heavily. She wished she could lie to him but not with those entrancing emeralds he called his eyes.

"Look Harry, I don't know what you want to me to do, why can't you just leave it alone?" 

"Cause-" Cause she was important to him. Because he liked when she hung around him and smiled and laughed and popped in and out of his life with those secret passageways of hers. Cause he hated that she spent hours alone, defenseless, and probably terrified and he couldn't be there for her sooner. But the words never came to him. Hell the thoughts never came to him. Just vague unexplainable emotions. "Well, why aren't you angry about it?!" he instead insisted.

"Because it's not a big deal Harry. Just....Just drop it okay? It's alright now," she pleaded. Her black haired friend remained silent and she took it as his acceptance. The last few steps to the portrait of the fat lady were quiet.

Y/N told the lady the password and climbed inside the portrait hole without another word. 

The identical ginger troublemakers she called friends were on the couch when she stepped inside. They greeted her with happy grins and open hearts. "Where've you been?" They asked in that loving, teasing manner they always had.

"Closet," the girl replied briskly before scurrying to the girl's dormitory. 

Fred and George were confused but still amused. What a strange girl they were so fond of. A strange girl indeed.

Then the golden trio shuffled into the red common room, wearing collective grim expressions that screamed the need to discuss something. The two boys' smiles faltered for a split second. Everything was alright wasn't it?

~

Y/N abused her access to the kitchens too much. Though maybe in this scenario, it was reasonable. Right? After all, the girl did miss dinner that night and needed some sort of sustenance to survive. Yes that was being dramatic, but Y/N had a beautiful, close relationship with food.

It was around ten thirty that night when she snuck into the torch-lit kitchen. Many house elves had retired for the night, but some restless workers stayed late to serve whoever may approach their lair. Mostly Y/N and a few Hufflepuffs from time to time.

Tonight, Dobby manned the kitchens. He toddled around the room giddily with the colorful garments that signified his freedom. A wonderous sight indeed. 

"Y/N L/N has come to visit!" He exclaimed after spotting the girl. 

The hospitable house elf then guided the girl to a table to sit. "Hey Dobby, sorry I'm not with Harry," she said, knowing full well that Harry was Dobby's favorite person in the world. 

"It's okay, Dobby likes when Y/N visits because Dobby can serve Y/N!" He gleamed cheerily. 

Y/N almost frowned, feeling bad that the house elf was so willing to work for her when she could've gotten some food for herself. "It's okay Dobby, no need to serve me. You can just keep me company today," she tried to dissuade. 

"Nonsense!" he squeaked. "Whatever Y/N needs, Dobby is happy to provide," he assured.

She paused for a second. That feeling of hesitancy never left Y/N. Not once since Dobby began working at Hogwarts. But if it truly made him happy, Y/N would oblige with Dobby's wants just as he would do the same for her.

"D'you, Um is there still custard tart left? Brilliant choice Y/N! Who needed to be healthy when they had sweets to fill their stomach? 

"We do!" the excitable house elf cheered as he hopped away to produce the dessert. 

At the same time, two ginger heads of hair popped up through the now thrown open portrait hole and then two lanky bodies followed suit. The light atmosphere of the room seemed to shift immediately. Dobby recognized this and took this as his cue to leave. After placing a place with a slice of custard tart and a fork down for the girl, he vanished into thin air.

"Why didn't you tell us why you were in the closet?" Fred began. Damn it, one of her friends snitched. 

"Because it wasn't worth telling. I'm here aren't I?" she stated before taking a bit of the tart with the silver fork and placing it into her mouth. By now, the twins had settled into their usual seats but had a serious look to them. None of the teasing from earlier that night. Rats! She really thought she'd gotten away from that.

"Y/N," George warned like a mother scolding her child. Y/N had never seen the twins so serious in her life. Nor this outraged. It was nothing like Harry or Ron's outbursts, but she could tell there was rage simmering in their eyes. 

"Fine, I got stuck in a closet cuz of Pansy and her goons, happy?" She admitted vehemently. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Glad you asked," they chimed simultaneously. Oh no. "Why don't we throw dung bombs into the Slytherin common room and lock them all inside? Would be some great pay back don't'cha think?" Fred, the instigator, suggested.

Y/N looked to George for help, hoping that his mediator mind would suggest otherwise, but his dark eyes told her all she needed to know. "No," said she.

"What do you mean no? They locked you in a cupboard for hours!" George nearly shouted. 

"Yes, but not all Slytherins are responsible for this. Besides, I've got a better idea." Then in came another bite of her tart.

"Yeah? And what's your plan?" Fred questioned, his entire upper body angled towards the girl. 

"That's for me to know, and you to find out." 

~

Y/N went to bed that night with no idea what her plan was. She just didn't want the twins taking things too far on her behalf. But Y/N was still a brilliant mind when she needed to be, and this situation called for it. 

The next morning, Y/N was forced out of her blanket haven with less struggle than the usual amount. Clearly, Hermione took notice and gave the girl a strange look. The bushy haired book nerd had known her friend long enough to see that Y/N was planning something, and it worried her slightly. Though she said nothing of it.

Somehow, Y/N and Hermione were able to meet Harry and Ron in the common room for once. Had it not been for the sleepy girl every morning, the boys would have been the ones considered to be late to breakfast. The two didn't mind. It was a rare occasion but not unwanted.

"Morning Y/N," Harry greeted, but somehow sounded more awkward than he had planned. Maybe it was the staring. Y/N just sort of look really pretty and cheerful that morning, he couldn't help but stare.

"Morning," she returned before darting to the portrait hole. 

"Woah there, where are you going?" Ron called.

"Library," she replied. "Don't worry. I'll be back before breakfast is over."

The girl scurried away quickly. Out the portrait hole and towards the haven of knowledge. It was virtually the same route to the grand hall anyways. Just minus the fact that the library was a floor above where she should've been eating breakfast.

With little hesitation, Y/N hopped down one of the grand staircases with her eyes glued to each step lest she accidentally fall victim to a sprained ankle. Yet at the last step she noticed the staircase had begun to shift, so the girl took one extra big hop and nearly crashed into someone.

"Oh sorry bout that," she apologized as she took a glance at the sculpted Adonis himself. Her eyes widened slightly as she remembered the world cup and the first night in school. 

"Y/N? What're you in a rush for? Breakfast isn't over in a while," said Cedric.

"Oh uh I was just going to the library."

"Well aren't you studious," he complimented.

"Not exactly," she mumbled under her breath. 

"What was that?" 

"Nothing! Well I'll be going now," she chirped before stepping past the boy in the meager hopes that she wouldn't make a fool of herself or reveal her plan and get in trouble.

"Wait I'll come along," he called, hurrying after the girl. The brunette didn't actually need to do anything in the library, however. It was really just a last minute decision the boy made. He figured now was a great time to attempt to spend time with Y/N as he hadn't seen her for weeks with his busy schedule. But what if that was on purpose? Maybe Y/N didn't want to see him and she was just being polite every time they interacted? 

Extremely false. No one could simply NOT like Cedric Diggory. 

"You don't mind do you?" He asked, just to make sure he wasn't intruding on possibly sacred alone time.

Merlin! Cedric Diggory wanted to accompany Y/N! Cedric Diggory wanted to accompany Y/N! Yes! Yes! "Of course!" She chimed. Then she paused, her mouth slightly open in retrospection. Brilliant! You've done it now Y/N. "Wait no. I-uh, I meant like of course you can come," she babbled.

"So I can tag along," he chuckled.

"Yessir," she replied nervously. Agh! Spending time with her crush could be incredibly nerve racking sometimes. Not that she didn't want to, but once again, Y/N was really bad at flirting, recognizing flirting, and also talking to Cedric in general.

"So how's school been so far?" he asked in an attempt to make small talk.

"Oh you know... The usual I suppose. Snape's still a git as always, the professors are giving us way too much homework, and I got locked in a closet by some slytherin yesterday. So nothing much," she explained quickly, not even comprehending the words that came out of her mouth until seconds later.

Cedric's pretty face turned into a frown as he looked at the girl. "What? Did you tell a professor?" he asked, concerned. Y/N shook her head and pressed her lips into an awkward, too wide smile.

"Do you want me to take house points off?" the prefect asked. 

The two had arrived at the library when Y/N shook her head again, sending tiny strands of (H/C) locks swaying left and right. The girl lowered her voice as soon as they passed through the large double doors and effectively Madam Pince's desk. "No it's alright." 

"Is there anything in particular you're looking for?" He asked as his eyes darted around the shelves of leather bound books.

'Anything even remotely close to an unforgiveable curse.' Oh wait. That would be suspicious wouldn't it. "I suppose you'll just have to find out won't you," she replied smoothly. As smoothly as she could attempt at the very least.

Her (E/C) eyes flickered to the keeper of knowledge like it was second nature. Which it truly was. Somehow her nights of lurking around the stone walls of this fine institution she attended, creeped its way into her days. Nonetheless, the less witnesses the better.

Y/N ducked into a promising aisle of bookshelves just by the section occupied by books on counter curses. She took note to check that section later. Y/N wasn't that evil after all. 

Cedric let out a low whistle as he strode into the narrow space after the girl who had already begun to search for her desired knowledge. "Hexes?" 

Y/N didn't answer. Instead, she made a shushing motion with her index finger and smiled. Somehow, her fingers found their way trailing down the worn spine of a text possibly older than she and her companion combined. 

For someone who was skilled in scoping out her environment, the girl was doing an awfully brilliant job of missing the way the boy's aquamarine eyes watched the scene fondly.

There is a certain beauty in watching someone interact with something they love. Their eyes light up, sucking in all the stars that dot the night sky and the galaxies beyond comprehension. They always look as if in another dimension, alone with the object of their affection, where nothing could ever reach them.

But Cedric was in Y/N's little world now too. She parted her gaze from her book to see what the handsome Hufflepuff was up to. The brunette boy with his ever developing crush and his ever so terrifying confidence refused to look away, knowing that it would be too telling if he did.

Y/N cursed those two jewels wedged into the boy's eye sockets. Suddenly, the girl had forgotten how to breathe. The action in itself was so simple, yet so taxing. In and Out, in and out. Merlin! Was she even breathing normal in front of him? 

She had had enough and quickly swiped a random book from the shelf to cover her probably blushing face with. Her eyes glued to the tiny, black letters scrawled across the pages with the intent to ignore her companion.

Eventually, Y/N found herself ensnared with the words that promised of whimsical, cruel, long lasting, hourly, anything you could think of, hexes and curses. She let her body prop against the large shelf as she perused the aged pages. And yet every few seconds, she'd let her wandering orbs find Cedric.

The first time, she noticed he too was entrapped in an old book, and leaning against the opposite shelf. The second time she noticed his thick, marvelously shaped brows twitched with every tiny micro expression he made when reading. The third time, she thought about how they always found themselves alone.

Usually though, they were always in the dark, in places they shouldn't have been. Y/N supposed their little library hangout? session? trip? date?? was a step up. A huge step up in fact. With the sunny, warm rays, she felt as if all her interactions with the boy weren't some figment of her imagination.

He was real, and he was right in front of her. In public. She had no idea in the slightest as to why it felt like such a big deal, but it just did.

The boy let out another low whistle as he flipped through a different book. "These are some pretty advanced hexes Y/N," he noted, glancing up at the girl. She didn't say a word, just let the butterflies wreck havoc in her body at the sound of her name.

"There's a whole three chapters dedicated to puking hexes too," he muttered, once again flipping through the pages. 

"Really? I didn't know there were that much out there," she hummed, placing her book back into its previous, empty spot.

"Vomit every time you see muggle, slugs, every time you see someone you fancy, every time you hear balderdash..."

Y/N's head perked up immediately. Anxiously, she hurried up to the tall boy and eyed his book. "Can I see?" 

"Yeah sure." Cedric tilted his book for Y/N, who had settled beside him, to see. 

The girl was far too preoccupied to notice how her arm grazed against his or how blatantly they looked like a canoodling couple. It was no wonder that the fat lady jumped to so many conclusions without ever seeing the two together before.

But sadly, their beautiful little moment had to end. The bell tower from across the castle stole their last seconds together with its heavy chiming, signaling the end of the breakfast period.

"Well, I'll be going now, Professor Burbage doesn't like it when we're late to class. I'll see around then," she bid before taking the book from the Hufflepuff's hand and hurrying to Madam Pince's desk to check it out. 

Cedric ever so gentlemanly stuck around until Y/N was out of the door, carrying her temporary copy of hexes. "Fourth years have a break during sixth period Thursday right?

The girl stopped in her tracks, wondering what the question was about. "We do."

Cedric's lips curved into a pleased smile that sent another shockwave of butterflies through Y/N. "So do sixth years. I'm usually in the middle courtyard. Feel free to join us-" He paused, nervous"- if you're not busy of course."

Y/N wanted to scream. She wanted so desperately to make a scene and collapse on the floor in a heap of mushy butterflies. It took everything in the girl's willpower to stop herself from looking any less than lovesick fool. "I think I'll take you up on that when I can," she replied, hoping that her voice didn't seem too strange.

"I'll see you then."

The boy walked back in the direction of the grand staircase while Y/N headed the opposite direction with her thick book and a dreamy grin on her lips. It wasn't until she was totally alone in the corridor that she began to jump victoriously, chanting "YES!" silently to herself. 

Then an epiphany struck the poor fool. There was a measly minute left until class started. Y/N had never sprinted with such intensity in her entire life.

~

For the next week, Hermione noticed something off about the (H/C) haired Gryffindor. The girl was either extremely focused or distracted. Her mind never seemed to spend too long dilly dallying over the intricacies of ancient ruins, nor arithmancy, and certainly not potions.

Harry and Ron, who were far less intuitive than their bookish friend, simply assumed it was girl business, since Y/N seemed to disappear into a bathroom at every chance presented. Not to mention, the sudden increase of food being shoved hurriedly into the girl's mouth before she was dashing off to Merlin knows where.

In reality, Y/N was dashing off to experiment. Although, it was quite unlike the girl to try anything new without the two identical ginger menaces by her side. She wouldn't have wanted the boys to witness her puking her guts out every few hours whilst moaning Mrytle floated above her, laughing like she had been told the most humorous joke in the entire world.

Her first few attempts on Wednesday were failures all together. The sweets she had enchanted were nothing more than that: sweets. She knew whom she fancied was not the issue, for it was a fact that the photo of that boy from the band in America sparked her fancy. Yet, not a single sign of nausea, nor gagging, nor bile. Reluctantly, Y/N had to silently agree that she was glad not to be losing her lunch that day.

Thursday, Y/N managed to crush her own spirits when she didn't appear at the middle courtyard. She had murder on her mind, and Cedric could not get in the way. Even though she wished he would. Cedric Diggory was a sacrifice she needed to make to see through with her revenge.

However, the results were far better that day. The first try had the girl huddling on the floor of the bathroom stall wondering if she was really up for the challenge. The next try had her gagging and hunching over the girl's restroom toilet in great distress. Once the photo was removed from her line of sight, the girl was perfectly fine. Brilliant!

Third time's the charm they say. And indeed it was. Y/N had never puked before, and she never wanted to again. Especially not when a dead girl was floating above her shoulder, laughing shrilly about her misfortune. Needless to say, Myrtle didn't exactly like pretty girls very much.

While she only dosed herself with a single chocolate that lasted an hour, it was still quite the irritation. Y/N immediately felt nauseous the moment she regrouped with her friends to study for an upcoming transfiguration exam. 

"Are you alright?" Harry had asked. 

To which, Y/N felt the faintest hint of the urge to vomit creeping up her throat. Those bloody side effects! 

"Yeah just feeling a bit under the weather that's all," she had replied, looking away and finally feeling the urge receding from her being.

Then later that night, the girl felt nauseous once again. At such an inconvenient time too. The moment she stepped into the great hall for dinner, she was feeling her already emptied stomach begging for revenge. 

Y/N had not found a singe clue as to why the heavenly meal seemed so unappealing. Then, every time Fred or George leaned over to make a comment about Moody or Filch, she was trying her best not to hurl all over the table. 

It wasn't until Y/N was alone again that the nausea evaded her. 

~

Everything went smoothly that Friday. Everything. Pansy accepted the mysterious box of chocolates on her desk like it was nothing. Y/N knew that forging Draco's signature on the slip of paper was a brilliant choice. And poor Malfoy hadn't a single clue.

Especially not when Pansy Parkinson discarded her entire breakfast onto his pristine school shoes the second he walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts that morning. Moody was Moody to say the least. Pansy was sent straight to Madame Pomfrey, albeit with a bit of hesitancy. 

The poor Slytherin Prince was harassed once again that night at supper. If his mood wasn't already atrociously ghastly from that morning, it was downright murderous when Parkinson reappeared for dinner without a cure from Pomfrey. And without her cure, the Slytherin girl spewed chunks right onto Malfoy's expensive school robes. 

While the Great Hall's inhabitants collectively gasped in shock, Y/N received two well deserved high fives from the twins. 

It was rather unfortunate that Y/N's bully had to have a thing for Malfoy. AKA, her partner. Y/N had without a doubt set herself up for doom that following Monday.

The blond was seething when she arrived in their little hidden corner. Y/N had barely shimmied through the stack of books at the entrance when Malfoy opened his permanently sneering mouth.

"Thought that being Saint Potter's friend meant you were too good for a pathetic little project did ya?" He spat, his lips already morphed into an ugly sneer. 

Y/N simply sighed and dropped her books on the table. The girl was so screwed. How was she going to get out of Malfoy's wrath now? Though she noticed that most of her pre-potion brewing work had been completed and all the two really needed to do at this point was brew the calming draught, write the essay, and restart with the wit-sharpening potion. 

Malfoy, however, clearly had other plans. The boy was out for blood and this time it was Y/N's. "Not talking now are we?" He pushed.

Y/N's eyes found themselves meeting Draco's smug, grey ones with an intensity that neither knew could exist. She stared him down, almost as if challenging him to continue. Oh why did her battles with Malfoy always end up like this?

"Can't even speak? You'd think all that time off dawdling , you'd learn word or two" he sneered. 

With her teeth painfully gritted, Y/N abandoned her chair in favor of stalking around the table with the restrained fierceness of her house's namesake. The cornered Slytherin stood up from his seat, also strikingly on guard. 

Despite his towering height, Y/N managed to remain unaffected. "I'll have you know-" she started, lessening the distance between her and the blonde with every step. "-that your-" she stopped to dig an accusing finger into his chest, "- daft, obsessed girlfriend locked me in a storage closet for hours!" She hissed. 

"Parkinson is not my girlfriend," he retorted, staring back down upon the girl before swatting her hand away from his body. 

"Well she sure acts like it. Draci-poo."

Then Y/N was gone, leaving a dumbstruck Draco in her wake. That stupid nickname!


	8. Bet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N can be resourceful too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much is said about the calming draught so I'm making this up as I go~

"What're you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? Don't suppose you know how to read do you?" the girl blurted. Damn. Of course her loud mouth just had to insult her partner right after leaving him in the dust just last week! "Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare," she answered quietly as she angled her reading material to display the worn cover. 

"Never heard of it. Must not be a very good writer," muttered Malfoy, striding to the dusty table. 

"I don't think he's very well known among purebloods and wizards." 

"Why not?" 

Y/N knew where the conversation was leading. No way in Azkaban would Draco Malfoy, the epitome of a pureblood supremacist, sit and listen to some half-blood fawn over a muggle book. She stuck a bookmark onto her page and shut it gently. This edition was the first and last copy to ever grace the Hogwarts library and mustn't be damaged at all costs. To Y/N at least. If a boy like Draco Malfoy ever got their hands on a copy this precious, there would be a significantly less amount of muggle literature in the library.

"Because he's not popular," she lied, finding her hand around the nape of her neck again in that nervous habit of hers. The girl realized her eyes had been darting at every other direction except in Malfoy's. Somehow she'd broken rule one of lying: make eye contact. What a horrible liar Y/N was. "Right anyways, we can't exactly brew in the library or Madam Pince will tear the mickey out of us. Have you got any ideas?" 

"Fourth floor, third classroom to the left. No one uses it," Malfoy stated.

"I don't think we should go there.." 

"I don't take advice from half-breeds," he retorted. Y/N pressed her lips into a thin line and furrowed her brows. Well alright then. If Malfoy wanted to play that game, then she had plenty of time to spare.

"Fine, I need to get my cauldron and ingredients though," she asserted.

"Five minutes. Don't be late."

Of course the prick was being completely unreasonable again. Five minutes to sprint down one corridor, then up several flights of stairs, then grab her supplies and cauldron and then sprint back down three flights of stairs. Why couldn't she ever walk for once? Stupid Malfoy.

In an obvious hurry, Y/N snatched her textbooks and dashed out of the library with nothing but a scolding librarian to bid her goodbye. An array of curses left the girl's mouth as she scurried down the mostly empty hallways and up the grand stair case.

The girl nearly gave the Fat Lady a heart attack when her body tumbled into a halt a mere inch away from the painting. The lady's loud outcry was overshadowed by the huffing and puffing that escaped from the young girl's chapped lips. 

"Wattlebird," Y/N wheezed, wondering if her lungs would ever be the same again. 

The young L/N was ever so grateful when the portrait swung open, and promptly ignored the fat lady's reminder against running in the halls. The common room with its seemingly never ending fire was much too warm for Y/N's liking. With one arm, the girl shrugged off her school robes as she hurried past her fellow students. 

In a jiffy, the winded girl was scrounging through her room in search of her supplies. "Peppermint, lavender..." she muttered under her short breaths, recounting the items. Then they were hastily shoved into her book bag along with her textbooks, notes, and...She was missing something.

What was it? Something she had earlier. Y/N swore it was in her hands. Something hard. Oh no, oh no, oh no no no! Her book! Oh gosh. Oh Merlin! It was in the library still. But how much time did she have left? A minute or so? 

And so on her whirlwind of a journey to the library in the matter of seconds, Y/N just managed to hear Ron tell his partner he had never seen her run so fast in her life. And he was damn right! Yet, the library wasn't the answer. Y/N felt her heart drop at the loss. The beautiful work of literature was nowhere to be seen. With another deep huff, Y/N sped off to her next destination. 

The arrogant blonde was leaning against the rather uncomfortable looking wall of the fourth floor corridor when Y/N saw him again. It took a few very confused seconds for the girl to realize what lay in his hands.

"What are you doing?!" She hissed, stomping up to the boy.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Don't suppose you know how to read do you?" he threw back at her smugly. 

Y/N grit her teeth to the point where she expected it to disintegrate into millions of tiny little shards in her mouth. "No I mean why do you have my book?" 

"Left it at the library. Wanted to see what all the fuss was about. A pair of star crossed lovers? Didn't know you were into such rubbish." 

The girl flexed her hand more times than she would have liked to admit, especially for a wizard. Why punch when you can hex? But that wasn't the answer today. "Okay thanks, now give it back," she demanded, grabbing at the book.

"Uh uh uh," he mouthed as he lifted it above Y/N's reach. Immediately, she began to jump for her precious possession. "What are you going to do for it?" he taunted.

The girl stopped. "Are you bloody serious?" For Merlin's sake, Draco Malfoy was enjoying his power a bit too much. 

"What's the magic word?" the bully continued. 

"Avada Kedav-" And magically, despite accio being just the magic word, Y/N had her prized possession shoved roughly into her hands. The blonde looked less than pleased, but at least he still had his life in tact. "Careful, this is worth more than your life," she asserted.

With a scowl on his pretty face, Malfoy pushed past Y/N, knocking brutally into her shoulder. 'brat' she thought. Though she chased after the boy like a puppy, trying to keep up with his long strides. "I seriously wouldn't recommend going in there.." she tried to warn.

But alas, her words of wisdom fell to deaf ears for the stubborn boy had already thrown open the creaky old door. Oh the poor eyes of Y/N L/N needed a serious cleaning spell. The girl shifted around awkwardly in her spot, avoiding eye contact at all times.

The two red handed students in the classroom stopped dead in their tracts with the most deer caught in headlights expression the young girl had ever seen. It would only make it worse to acknowledge the crime scene.

Meanwhile, Malfoy Malfoy Malfoy. That bossy boy merely deepened his scowl at the canoodling couple. "Out," he ordered. 

"What?" the unknown student asked. 

"Out or my father will hear about this," he threatened. 

Y/N, who had been viciously harassing the floor with her pupils, could only assume that the two students had fled their precarious make out spot and that she was free to enter their stolen territory. Malfoy strolled in like he owned the place, which if his father paid enough, he probably could.

"Well hurry up. We don't have all day," he snapped.

The girl rolled her eyes and began setting up her cauldron on one of the abandoned desks. "D'you know whose class this used to belong to?" she asked in a half-assed attempt to filled the silence.

"How would I know?" 

"I mean you chose the spot."

Unfortunately, their short lived conversation lasted about a whole of three seconds as each began to work on their individual potions. The blonde was working much quicker than the girl, who slowed down the process to make sure she was preparing the ingredients accurately and according to the book. Bless her soul, Y/N was basically triple checking the peppermint by the time Malfoy had tossed all his items into the cauldron. 

Her cold hands began to tremor slightly as she felt the weight of his steely gaze upon her work. A few seconds in and the boy was already storming up to her desk. "You twit, are you trying to poison me!?" 

Well that option wasn't entirely off the table, but Y/N really had no idea what she was doing wrong. "No. I'm TRYING my best. But I can't do anything with you staring at me like that!" Yeah brilliant comeback Y/N. That was definitely the reason she would be thrown to Azkaban for poisoning some rich prat.

"You don't cut the peppermint leaves into sixths and put in five pieces." The much more knowledgeable wizard corrected.

"I don't? Why not?" 

He sighed like she was the dumbest child in the world. And maybe she was, but that was none of Malfoy's business. "The entire leaf won't be put in, and you'll get the proportions all wrong," he scolded. "Don't you ever listen in class. Only an oaf would mess up something so easy."

Oh an oaf indeed. Seamus Finnigan would hear a mouthful when Y/N got back to the common rooms. It was a no wonder he was constantly blowing up his potions,, and it was a huge miracle Y/N wasn't literally poisoning her partner.

With a heavy sigh Y/N pushed her useless peppermint leaf aside and took out another. Hesitantly, the girl gripped her blade and brought it towards the leaf. She bit her lip in concentration as she evaluated the tiny ingredient. 

"Are you kidding me?" Malfoy cried.

Y/N had suddenly frozen like a statue. What was it now? "No?"

The blonde shoved the girl aside and snatched the knife from her hands. With the blade, he made quick work of slicing up the peppermint leaf into tiny fifths. "What's next?" she asked curiously as she glanced at the paper she had written notes on.

"Crocodile heart. Just the left ventricle."

"Oh, right!" Y/N was somehow hanging onto Draco Malfoy's every word yet drifting from reality at the same time. Really, it was a vicious cycle of aweing over the assignment and then fawning over the blonde's fluid ability to brew at the same time.

Then, when the boy rolled up his sleeves to handle the heart, Y/N found it extremely hard to focus. Her wandering eyes just couldn't seem to stop coming back to how good they looked. She had no clue WHY it looked so attractive to her. It just did. 

In a flash, the Slytherin had dropped the heart into the cauldron, which fizzled into a dark greenish hue. Strange. Wasn't it supposed to be light turquoise? Y/N then directed her attention back to Draco, wondering if she should question his authority or not.

"Take a picture, It'll last longer," he snarked. 

"What? No shut up. Why doesn't it look like this in the book?" She questioned suspiciously.

"You stupid Gryffindors can't even wait an hour?" He snapped as he stepped away from the girl's potion and towards his own across the classroom. 

'An hour?!' the girl screamed internally. Her hands were very much on a mission now, flipping through the textbook with vigor until they finally found their desired page. For once, the girl was reading through the lines word for word, letter by letter rather than scanning through it and saving the words as a problem for later. 

Well damn. Could Y/N even survive an hour alone with the Slytherin Prince of pride and arrogance? 

It seemed that Draco had a much different plan than the girl for he had already settled on a chair, intent on ignoring Y/N again. At least that meant she wouldn't need to talk to him for an hour, and that was the best thing anyone could ever ask of a Malfoy (Aside from his entire trust fund and inheritance).

And so the foolish girl took to reading her silly muggle books written by her silly muggle author. Though without a muggle English professor to guide her through the intricacies of old Shakespearean English, Y/N struggled to comprehend the work.

For the next ten minutes or so, neither partner talked, creating an unusual air of comfortability yet hostility at the same time. Y/N however, was too immersed in her classic to really realize the Malfoy had begun sneaking glances at her just like how she had been stealing mini glances at a certain Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain a week ago.

"What's so good about that mangy old book?" The blonde finally asked.

Y/N's head snapped up from the words and looked at the boy sitting directly in front of her give or take 15 feet. The words just didn't seem to want to come to mind. Why did she like this book? Well she didn't really like it that much at the moment, but it was sort of precious to her in a way.

"Plot..Plot's good," she muttered.

"If it's star crossed lovers" he mocked, "how good can it be?"

"Everyone dies?" she commented, wondering if her major spoiler was a good enough plot point for her to part with.

"Well that's a rubbish story," he scoffed.

"Well I'm the one reading it so mind your own business Malfoy," she retorted before ignoring the boy's existence altogether and delving back into her tiny fictional world of 15th century fair Verona. 

It was another ten minutes until Malfoy opened his mouth again. "Prove it," he challenged, his voice bouncing off of the empty walls of the classroom. 

Y/N who had heard the request loud and clear, tore her eyes away from the pages to look at the pretty blonde again. "What?"

Malfoy abandoned his chair in favor of traipsing up to the girl's table. "Prove it. Prove your bloody book isn't absolute rubbish."

"I don't have to prove anything to you. I don't even know how you want me to pRoVe it. If you don't like it then you don't like it. It's not my problem," she stated furiously, clutching the book closer to her body in the likely chance that the Slytherin would try to snatch it up for himself.

But then again....Maybe Y/N could use this to her advantage. If she played her cards right, then she could stand to gain something out of the whole ordeal. Slowly, the bookworm shut her precious piece of literature and approached the practically opaque window. A thousand scenarios of how wrong her plan could go swirled through her mind like a devil whispering of danger into her ears. 

As her eyes traced the designs that adorned the dusty pane, she thought. What would Fred and George do? Well probably hurl the Slytherin out of this very window and watch him fall hundreds of meters into the gorge. 

Then what would Harry do? Duel his mortal enemy. Right. 

What would Hermione do? Pros and Cons. So Y/N employed her wise witch friend's mindset. Pro, she gets to pass her class without bothering her friends. Con, she may lose her beloved copy forever. To be fair, it wasn't like the book was completely unattainable. But there were ways to protect her property wasn't there? 

At some point, the girl had begun to run her fingers furiously through her locks where they occasionally got stuck on a knot or two. Oh what to do, what to do?

With that ferocity that Draco had first fallen victim to during the Quidditch World Cup, Y/N spun around to face the boy. "Let's make a bet."

Draco Malfoy was interested. Sure, he had only been half-heartedly curious of the contents of that silly muggle book Y/N venerated so dearly, but he wasn't exactly expecting anything other than to piss off the girl for the sake of it. 

They boy who had been slouching against his chair visibly stiffened, catching the observant eyes of the L/N. The young girl had no idea whether she was practically tossing away her book or if Malfoy was falling into the irresistible trap of curiosity.

As confidently as she could, the girl on a mission advanced to the blonde. Tiny dust particles flitted into the air as the girl waved her leather-bound masterpiece in the boy's face. "You want to read this don't you?" she tempted.

The boy scoffed, crossing his his arms and scanning the cover up and down. "Nobody said I wanted to read that rubbish," he scoffed. "That might work on Potter, but I'm no nimrod."

The girl grit her teeth for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Y/N was fighting a losing battle wasn't she? She supposed it wasn't a big deal really,so the girl retreated. "Up to you."

"I want a favor," the boy stated, a tinge of arrogance staining his audacious words. Was this really worth it?

"Nothing that will hurt my friends."

"Fine with me. What are your terms?"

She paused. Now that Y/N thought about it, was she really okay with selling her soul for a little extra help in potions? Yes. "If you read Romeo and Juliet," she started slowly. "And you like it. At all. Any scene, act, line, or character. You tutor me for the rest of the year." 

A dissatisfied look presented itself on the boy's sharp face before a confident one replaced it. "And if I think it should burn in a fiendfyre?"

"You get one favor from me. Anything that won't harm my friends," she asserted, convinced of her victory. Did the sly little snake think he could lie his way through this one? Oh poor Draco had no idea what was going to happen.

Being the twins' partner in crime meant an easy access to Professor Snape's legendary storage, including his fabled Veritaserum. 

Cheerily, the girl stuck out her hand. Her potions partner on the other hand, presented his hand with much less enthusiasm. Though this was no unbreakable vow, in each youngling's flaming heart, it felt like a promise that they would be seeing much more of each other no matter the outcome. And it scared them both that they really didn't mind.

Impatiently, Malfoy reached for the book with his freshly shaken hand. The ever cautious Gryffindor kept it away from reach, eying the boy. "You get this starting next week. I expect to see it back the week after. Unless you're a slow reader." 

"I'm not like Potter," he spat, offended. 

Y/N rolled her pretty (E/C) eyes and shrugged. "It's been an hour," she noted softly, gesturing to the light blue brew bubbling in their cauldrons. "Shall we?" 

Wordlessly, the blonde headed straight to the potions to check up upon them. Meanwhile, Y/N made a mental note to cast a protection charm upon her property lest she lose it to the unforgiving hands of Draco Malfoy.


	9. Roulette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Curiosity killed the cat.

The very next week, Y/N's precious book was hand delivered to Draco Malfoy's desk right before Arithmancy with Professor Vector. The Slytherin sent a look at Y/N who winked back at him knowingly. Now that she had no worry for the safety of her prized possession, the girl was much more content with her bet.

Granted, the girl could've given Malfoy the book the day after their fateful bet, but the young L/N was still a simple teenage girl with priorities. Like schoolwork, setting the blonde Slytherin girl's robes on fire, tattooing a permanent bite mark onto the unknown quidditch boy's hand, studying with Hermione, convincing Ginny, Caroline, and Hermione to switch where they hung out to the quad where Cedric hung out, reading in the library. The usual. 

Let's be completely honest now. The bet had evaded Y/N's mind entirely until the night before her next meeting, and the girl had resorted to breaking into the library to retrieve the book of spells she'd needed days ago. Falling out of her bed and tripping out of the portrait hole on her journey to the library in her old bunny pajamas was certainly nowhere near any of Y/N's proudest moments. Truly, procrastination at it's finest.

"Mister Malfoy. I recommend you put that book away before I confiscate it," Professor Vector's sharp voice echoed.

Curious gazes were thrown at the spotlighted boy who stuffed the text into his bookbag and cursed out at anyone close enough to fall victim to his foul words. Hermione had asked about the smile that her friend attempted to obscure behind her robe sleeves, and Y/N had said nothing of it. After all, how could Y/N tell her bushy-haired companion that she found it cute how quick Malfoy was to jump at the tale of two lovers?

Later that gloomy, cold afternoon, the girl was accompanied to the library by Harry, who had still not quelled his frustration from the Pansy fiasco weeks ago. At the very least, Y/N allowed her ever loyal friend to walk with her.

Then he'd asked how much longer Y/N would have to meet with the Slytherin. The girl bit harshly into her lip out of guilt. Well truthfully, her rendezvous with Draco might never stop that year if-or more accurately, when- she won her bet. 

"Two more weeks," she muttered quietly. "Almost done with the project."

The two came to a quiet halt in front of the grand doors of the library, and Y/N agreed to regroup with her friends in the common room. Because really, where else would the Gryffindors regroup? The Slytherin common room?

The library was much darker than usual that day and the following weeks after that. The loss of sight just happened to be one of the many downsides to using torches and lanterns as a source of light around their school. As the girl glanced at the many windows that accompanied her path, she'd come to realize that a storm would be arriving at Hogwarts soon, bringing along shadowy clouds and gloomy weather.

Malfoy was the striking image of how she'd seen him for the first meeting. However, the boy was far more ensnared in the mini Shakespearian universe than he was in what lay outside the dust covered windows of their school. 

In fact, the boy had been quite consumed by his dainty little book all day. It hadn't been Y/N's intention to eavesdrop on the Slytherins on their merry way to ancient ruins that afternoon, but she couldn't help but catch the words of a fretting Parkinson. An excitement in being the only student in Hogwarts to know the reason behind Malfoy's sudden infatuation with reading brewed deep within the girl. Though it was extremely plausible that the boy had been a closeted bookworm from the beginning.

"It fits, when such a villain is a guest: I'll not endure him," Malfoy snarked as he lifted his head with a smirk.

'Damn it Malfoy, why must you be so dramatic?' Y/N mused to herself. "He shall be endured," she recited off the top of her head. "Am I the master here? Or you?" 

"You skipped a line," he commented as the girl settled across him. She only smiled softly as she sent him yet another knowing look. Without a doubt, the girl was going to win that bet if she had him quoting lines so freely. 

"Shall we begin?" 

The boy set the book with a gentleness Y/N knew not of from Malfoy. "If we must," he sighed, annoyed.

Consequently, the rest of their little meeting went smoothly without a hitch. To her great surprise, when the girl asked about specific ingredients, the boy would answer with a question about the piece instead. The girl believed it to be quite a fair agreement. She would pick at his silver brain about the ways of potions and in turn, the Slytherin would pick at Y/N's brain about the details of Romeo and Juliet's tragic tale-though mostly questions about the Shakespearean language.

By the end of their quaint little session, the girl had discovered an impossible little secret: Draco Malfoy wasn't so bad. 

Although, she did find it strange how two-sided the Slytherin could be at times. Somehow Lady Luck had cast quite the unfortunate spell, allowing Y/N to see both the ugly and not so ugly sides of the Slytherin enigma. One moment, the boy is snapping at Y/N for staring at him, and the next, he is passionately rambling about the faults of Tybalt. She found it funny how much of a Tybalt defender the boy was. Something about being "misunderstood."

And yes, Y/N was staring. The entire time. For two simple reasons: 1. Malfoy was sort of kind of realllyyyy nice to look at. 2. She was attempting to decipher what type of damaged soul the irritable boy possessed. 

No, Y/N L/N did not have the slightest bit of a savior complex. She wasn't going to attempt to change the boy, because frankly, how could she? The girl was no psychologist-which the wizarding world exhibited a glaringly non-existent amount of-, but from her perspective, the boy was just a tosser. A tolerable tosser, but a tosser nonetheless.

Malfoy was an uptight, bratty embodiment of a silver spoon. He bullied kids actively and constantly went out of his way to make Y/N's friends miserable. But at the same time, Draco was just a petty teenage boy who clearly liked to dig his nose into a good book, was sort of fun to bicker with, worked hard in school, and was decently smart. 

The girl couldn't help but wonder the entire time they were together if the boy was but a product of his childhood. Maybe a spoilt, bratty child with uptight, overbearing parents wasn't the best idea. But who was Y/N to psychoanalyze her soon to be Potions tutor?

Maybe the blonde brat was just naturally a bad person at heart. But some devil hiding in Y/N's mind told her otherwise.

~

Y/N was never wrong. That was simply impossible. Despite others' efforts to prove her incorrect, the girl always found ways to assure herself she was right. 

The bet never mentioned a single clause about the use of truth serum. Thus, the next week, the very day before the outcome of Y/N's impulsive bet, she recruited the assistance of two of the worst people she had ever known: the twins.

The walking disaster of a trio would need to slip into Snape's storage closet in broad daylight with not even a hallway full of paintings as witnesses. Naturally, Fred proposed to cover the paintings to shield their crime away from prying adult eyes, but it was George who recommended setting a diversion to attract the attention of all the painted figures to other matters. 

Accordingly, that afternoon, the older twin hoisted Y/N up to the grand portrait of Anne Boleyn in the fourth floor corridor, while Y/N proceeded with the honors. Needless to say, a painting waking up to screaming and being vandalized with a nice green mustache was sure to call all the school's paintings to that spot. 

The two were quick to hurry over to where George was waiting patiently in front of Snape's personal stores. "Got the key?" Y/N asked.

The younger twin brought up a rusty old key to display. A mischievous grin spread across all three students' faces. "Would you like to do the honors?" George asked, presenting the key to the youngest of the trio with a dramatic hand twirl. 

"Thought you'd never ask."

Less dramatically than her ginger counterpart, the girl dug the key into the hole and twisted. The trio quickly shuffled into the room and shut the door behind them. Not a single student in that room was new to its contents. Y/N had snuck into this very storage closet several times to collect polyjuice potion ingredients her second year, and the twins had probably stolen at least half of its contents. throughout the course of their academic career.

As she climbed the little ladder, the girl scanned each individual jar and came to a strange conclusion. "Are you two making polyjuice?" she asked, twisting her torso in an awkward position to meet eyes with the twins. 

They both shook their heads, their shaggy red hair reminding Y/N of a wet dog drying itself. She pressed her lips together to suppress a grin and turned back. "Aha! Veritaserum."

Happily, she plucked the small vial from the shelf and produced an even smaller glass vial from her pocket. The thief was, unfortunately, not as well prepared for her heist as she could've been. How many drops did she need to make the truth serum work again? She hadn't the foggiest clue. So the girl poured a decent amount of the potion into her vial and capped it. But just enough so as their greasy-haired devil of a professor wouldn't suspect a thing.

Carefully, Y/N turned around on the step she had been perched on so that her heels kept her steady on the ladder. After pocketing her stolen goods, the thief held tightly onto the sides of the ladder to avoid falling off her perch and shattering her body and or the potions around her.

"Got what you need?" she asked the boys. After all, Y/N wasn't the only troublemaker with a certain potion in mind. Fred and George with their mischievous ways had been concocting a plan to brew up an age potion that would allow them to cheat their way into the Triwizard Tournament- something that had Y/N nervous.

Of course she would support her best friends even if they were ever to be thrown into Azkaban or were absolute idiots at times, but Dumbledore had declared the tournament so dangerous as to provoke the loss of life didn't he? Y/N knew the twins were absolutely brilliant wizards, but she was scared for them and a part of her wished they weren't tempted by the challenge.

"Yeah," George answered.

"And more," Fred added, revealing a small vial of an unknown liquid. Y/N's eyebrow raised at the mysterious potion as she sent the boy a questioning glance.

"We're going to play potions roulette," the two boys announced giddily.

"We are?" she asked. 

Fred with his to-die-for athleticism plucked Y/N right off the ladder and set her on the ground. "We are."

"With what potions?" she questioned, tilting her head and squinting at the vial as if it would somehow improve her meek eyesight. 

"Sorry Y/N, time's up!" the twins both stated before throwing open the door and stepping out, though not without holding the door open for their dear friend like the gentlemen they were. 

Luckily for the trio, the hallway was entirely devoid of all types of life and ghost forms. Quickly, the young girl exited and locked the door behind her before following the twins to Filch's office. Not to be confused with heading INTO the caretaker's cursed office. Y/N was simply going to drop the caretaker's key somewhere near his office and book it. 

In no time, Y/N and Fred found themselves wandering the corridors in search of a suitable spot to settle down and initiate their silly little game whilst George made a trip to the kitchens to collect goblets for their game. By the time George had returned, the two had decided that their needs were best fit by the very top floor of the clock tower. Hardly a soul would ever stumble upon the unusual location on accident.

Upon reaching their desired destination, the teens all settled down in a circle, facing each other. "So...Care to explain the game?" Y/N asked again.

Whilst George produced the goblets and filled them with water, Fred brought up the vial of unknown liquid from before. Still, Y/N had no clue what the potion was. It could have been amortentia for all she knew.

"Where's the other potion?" she asked, becoming strikingly nervous as each alarming minute ticked by loudly through the clock right in front of her. 

"That, my dear, if where you come in." Fred stated.

"Yeah. Has to be a three person effort you know," George inserted.

Hesitantly, Y/N reached into her pocket and traced the cold curve of the glass vial. "How much do we need?" 

"Three drops!" they proclaimed simultaneously as they formed a three with their long fingers. 

Well luckily for the twins, Y/N was quite the anxious negative Nancy when it came to her schemes, so she had collected much more than three drops. Finally, the girl freed the truth serum from her pocket and laid it on her lap in wait. "What potion's that?" she questioned, pointing to the substance swirling lucidly in the hands of Fred. 

"The exact opposite of that one you have right there," said George. 

So this was what those two bumbling baboons wanted to do. Some sort of next level game of two truths and one lie, but with much more truth and much more lies. With her inexorable curiosity, the girl handed her precious serum to Fred who then carefully poured three drops into one of the water-filled goblets and then the lying serum into the other two. 'Interesting'

"To make it fair, I'm going to use a switching spell so none of us know which potion we're taking. Immediately, Y/N knew the boy was bluffing. Never once had she ever witnessed either one of the twins playing fair-except quidditch. In fact, the mere mention of fairness was a red flag when it came to the game. They wanted Y/N to take the truth potion didn't they? "Okay," she muttered.

"Close your eyes, I'm going to switch them now," the boy instructed. 

"But doesn't that mean you see which potion is which?" she drilled, suspicious of the game and the boy's intentions.

"I'll have my eyes closed too," he lied. Y/N merely squinted her eyes at the boy before closing her eyes as instructed. 

Except, the girl didn't close her eyes. The ever so skeptical girl peered harshly through her lashes, staring at the cups as they magically switched places over and over again. Fred, the twit, had not closed his eyes, thus spurring Y/N's utmost focus and determination to keep sight of the truth bearing goblet. 

As quickly as he had begun, the Weasley stopped to send his brother a mischievous look- a habit that Y/N knew all too well. For once, the girl took this to her advantage and sneakily cast her own switching spell on the goblet she knew to hold the Veritaserum.

Not a second later, George (the twit also had his eyes wide open during the switching of goblets) arranged the potions neatly beside each participant of the game. And very much thanks to the young L/N's brilliant plan, she received just the very goblet she wanted. "Cheers," they chimed together before chugging the contents of their little game.

Y/N didn't quite feel out of the ordinary after taking her potion aside from the tiniest of a tingle at the tip of her tongue. She looked at each twin to gauge their reactions, and so far neither Weasley knew exactly what had happened.

"Who do you fancy?" Fred immediately inquired, throwing Y/N off guard. So that was his intention.

"Filch," she replied smoothly, barely even understanding the words that slipped out of her lips. With wide eyes, the girl slammed a hand over her mouth.

Like Y/N, the twins held an equally-if not more- horrified expression. "You took the lying potion," they both accused, denying the girl's statement as if it were the plague.

"No, I took the truth serum," she lied. "I'm serious, who doesn't just love his scruffy beard, and those...beady...little eyes!" she joked, slowly devolving into a fit of breathless heaves as she fought off her own laughter. Then she straightened up and stared right at Fred. 

"Your turn!" she chirped excitedly. "Who do YOU fancy?" she inquired right back at the boy. 

"Yo-" Fred managed to blurt before George slapped a large hand over his mouth. That had to hurt. A slightly panicked look cross both boys' faces as they made eye contact with each other through that telepathic twin communication they seemed to have. 

"Not fair George!" Y/N pouted, reaching to pry his hands from his twin's face. "Come onnnnn that's not fair," she whined; her curiosity growing with every second." Why don't you want me to know? I'm like your best friend, even better than George!" she teased, earning herself a shove from the younger twin. She stuck her tongue at the boy and resumed prying his hands off of Fred's mouth. 

Fred simply could not let Y/N know at all costs. Well, neither boy could, but George knew that if Fred spilled, the younger twin would be dragged into the mess too. With their magical twin telepathy, the boys made a split second eye contract before getting up and sprinting down the corridor away from sight.

"Wait no! Are you bloody kidding me?!" The girl yelled, scurrying to get off of the floor. But alas, her legs were much shorter than the two giants'. "Ugh! (stan BTS)" she growled as she threw her hands up in frustration.

Y/N L/N was not about to go on a wild goose chase across the entirety of the castle and all its smaller adjacent buildings. With the twins, Y/N could never quite figure out where they would hide. For all she knew, the two boys could stand perfectly still behind two tall trees and she would walk right past them, or they could stake out in one of the hundreds of secret passageways. It could take a whole day just to find them even if they stayed in the same spot the entire time.

Needless to say, the girl was curious, but not curious enough to spend her time doing any sort of physical activity. She was no cat and would NOT be dying in the horrid activity of walking just because of her curiosity.

Rather begrudgingly, the girl collected their abandoned goblets and returned them to the kitchens. Sigh, Y/N hated cleaning up. What to do now? Well, the twins had to return to the common room eventually. Why not wait for her targets to come to her?

Harry and Ron had been in front of the fireplace as they always were. Y/N found it incredibly awkward to ask Harry where the twins' dorm room was. Ron accused the girl of suspicious activity and Harry found it completely mental that Y/N was asking to go into the boys dormitory at all. Though he did not know much of the twins' habits, the boy suspected that their dorm would be just as dirty as the one he slept in every night.

"Are you sure?" he asked for the umpteenth time since bringing his friend into the boys' dormitory area. 

"Perfectly," she replied, still feeling the effects of her lying potion. The girl knew she would meet a complete disaster in their room, but she was determined nonetheless.

Once again, Y/N was never wrong. But she wished she was. The boys' dormitory was absolutely ghastly. Clothes littered the floor-presumably from other students, schoolwork was scattered and sloppily organized, and she swore she'd seen a textbook being used as a coaster on one of the boys' nightstands.

Luckily, Y/N had no problem finding Fred and George's beds. Truly, who else would have one of Molly Weasley's iconic initial sweaters thrown on the bed frame? Well aside from Harry or Ron. With a bit of hesitance, the girl sat stiffly on the edge of what she presumed to be Fred's bed. Harry, who had been standing at the doorway and debating what to do, opened his mouth to speak but closed it when he had nothing to say.

"It's okay. You can go," said she. "I won't get in trouble if that's what you're worried about."

Taking her advice, Harry hesitantly left the dorm to rejoin Ron in from of the fireplace.

As soon as the boy had left the room, Y/N wish he hadn't. She was bored out of her mind and in a place she shouldn't have been in the first place. Yes, the girl had most definitely spent at least two weeks of summer lazing around on one of the twins' beds, but she felt extremely intrusive doing this on their bed while they were away. Hiding from her of course. 

Deciding she wanted privacy in an already empty room, the girl shut the drapes around Fred's bed and flopped down onto the mattress. In no time, our Snow White had fallen asleep on an unsuspecting not-so-dwarfish Weasley's bed only to wake up nearly an hour later to voices.

"Can't...her..know...fancy..." 

"Weren't...closed...I.....left."

Then the sound of the drapes being thrown open assaulted Y/N's ears, snapping the groggy girl back to the realm of consciousness. The girl, in her curled up ball of warmth, squinted at the two blurry, ginger images in front of her. "Ughhhh, go away," she groaned as she curled inwards, the raspiness of a good hour's sleep still lingering at the back of her throat.

"Who would've thought it was this easy to get you in my bed," Fred teased, earning him a nudge from his twin. 

"You saucy boy," the girl mumbled as she sat up, feeling sore muscles struggle against her choice to leave her wonderful sleeping position. "So what brings you to my lair?"

"We should be asking you that," George rebutted. 

"Who do you fancy?" asked the girl with a smirk. Now fully awake, Y/N was back at her unwavering plan. 

Poor Fred looked scared for his life for once. His mouth almost seemed to betray him and reveal all his deep secrets, but he didn't care. Fred Weasley would tell Y/N L/N all his fears and worries and thoughts and secrets without a second thought or even a truth serum. All except one.

Fred Weasley was in love with his best friend. 

He didn't know when it happened or how it happened, but the boy somehow had fallen head over heels one day and that was a problem. He couldn't ever let Y/N know. It just couldn't happen. Ever. Never ever in the entirety of the universe. The boy was far too scared of what would happen to their friendship if he ever wanted more, but curiosity killed the cat, and Fred's own curiosity turned right back on him.

Now, George Weasley knew his brother like the back of his hand for they shared identical hands. He knew what he had to do even if it would ruin his twin. "Fred fancies Angelina Johnson."

Y/N didn't know what to expect and she certainly didn't expect this. The girl wasn't expecting the answer to be herself, but somehow she found herself wishing it was. Maybe she was just overprotective of her friends the way they were to her. 

Angelina Johnson was a keeper for sure. Well, more accurately, a chaser. They were all on the Quidditch team and in the same year so it made sense. But it didn't. Deep down in the young girl, it didn't make sense. Why was she feeling so dejected? What was she expecting? 

"Well well Fred, got yourself a good one. Angelina's cuuuute," she sang, attempting to sound happy for her friend. "You're one lucky boy." Despite her strange emotions, the girl found the words slipping out of her mouth much easier than usual.

Fred grimaced and resisted the urge to tell Y/N that she was cuter. Instead, he nodded and let out a pained "Yeah" because what else could he say? That he had no feelings toward Angelina whatsoever and that they were nothing more than friends? 

"No offense guys, but my dorm room's a lot cleaner than yours and I'd much rather not contract your cooties," she jeered playfully as she crawled off the bed. "See you guys at dinner," she chirped as she exited the room.

The girl had much on her mind as she trudged down the stairs to the common room. One: Whether or not she was jealous of Angelina Johnson. Two: Whether or not it was selfish of her to be jealous in the first place. Three: Why would she be jealous in the first place? Four: What was for dinner? Five: Was water wet? But of all the questions to ask herself, the girl had forgotten the most crucial: Had a full hour passed, or was George still under the lying potion?

~

None of the girl's questions were ever answered, except for dinner, but it was alright, for she had forgotten about them by the next morning. With the new school day came a new wave of worries to dote on, and the events of their questionable game was soon shoved to the back of her mind.

Miss L/N carried the truth serum in her pocket throughout the school all day. Truthfully, the girl was a bit hesitant about spiking Draco Malfoy's potion. The girl had no idea what mixing potions would do, but she was sure as hell going to find out. If her Slytherin potions partner passed out on the floor, at least she'd have found out that mixing two potions together was not the best of ideas. At this point, the girl was just being purposefully dumb.

In their shared Transfiguration period, Draco slipped Y/N yet another note. Y/N was starting to see a pattern in his preferred method of communication. Distant and secretive, just like the man himself. When she received said folded up little piece of parchment, the girl sent a glance at the boy across the class only to see him ignoring her existence once again. Though she understood why. Slacking off in Mcgonagall's class was a ballsy move even for a Gryffindor.

As fun as passing notes was, Draco's was nothing more than a heads up that they would be meeting at the abandoned old classroom instead of their usual dusty, small little corner of the library. 

That afternoon, after shrugging off Harry from following her to the now-secret meeting place of theirs, Y/N hauled her cauldron and supplies into the empty classroom only to be greeted by a smug Malfoy leaning backward on a chair to the point where Y/N thought he would fall right onto the ground. If gravity wouldn't finish the job, maybe she could. The girl's face contorted into a grimace as she suppressed the urge to smile or to push him off the chair herself.

"Ready to seal the deal?" He began confidently.

"How about we brew this potion first," she suggested, gripping the Veritaserum that clinked lightly against the wand in her robe pocket. "Book says it should take twenty minutes to brew, so might as well get it over with."

"Thirty," Malfoy corrected smartly. "Book doesn't mention prep time."

Not liking being corrected, the girl rolled her eyes and set down her cauldron on the table where she had last made her bet. She'd only begun to take out her ingredients when the thorn at her side opened its foul mouth to speak.

"Not that I want to be anywhere near your sort, but I can't see what you're doing from across the bloody classroom now can I?" 

"Gee thanks Malfoy. Brilliant to know you have my back. Why don't YOU move here," she drawled, unimpressed.

"I don't move for anyone," he asserted arrogantly, crossing his arms in front of his chest and staring down at the girl. 

"Fine," she scoffed as she packed up her cauldron to be moved to the desk beside Malfoy, though extremely worried about keeping their space. Halfheartedly the girl threw down her ingredients onto the desk and lit up her cauldron.

"What's got your wand in a knot?" he asked, not too concerned about the answer

'oh nothing! Just your stupid annoying face and your stupid annoying pompous arse,' she complained internally. "Nothing."

Shrugging, the boy began to work, ridding himself of the baggy school robe and rolling up his sleeves. Y/N hated to say it with the deepest depth of her soul, but she might've had a thing for Malfoy's forearms. Or maybe it was the hard work and looking like he knew what he was doing?

Either way, the girl robotically attempted to mimic what the boy had been doing but failed quite miserably when her partner pointed his small knife at the girl. The spooked girl jumped back to avoid the deadly weapon and stared at the blade with wide eyes.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you? Start preparing the ingredients you need first. If you start preparing the last ingredients, then they'll shrivel up before they even touch the cauldron." 

"Oh, I didn't know..." she said sheepishly.

"No wonder Snape's always going off about you. You're absolutely the worst," he spat.

The girl froze. Wait just a damn second. "Snape talks about me?" she inquired skeptically, raising an eyebrow at the boy.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Gryffindor," he snarked, clearly loving whatever knowledge he held over the girl. Miss L/N in turn, shut her mouth. She didn't want to give the prick any sort of satisfaction. 

For the next "tHiRty minUtEs", the two worked quietly alongside each other. Neither quite enjoying the other's presence, but still being somewhat tolerant. Y/N would hold her tongue at every insult for the rude little snake was at least being somewhat helpful in showing her how to brew her potion. If she was lucky enough, he would even stir her pot for her, claiming she was doing it so horribly wrong and that his dead grandmother could stir faster than the girl.

Y/N wondered about the Malfoy family after that comment. She wondered if the nasty blonde's grandmother was like her own when alive. A nice, sweet old lady who waddled around everywhere and gave sweets and cookies away at every chance along with a hailstorm of cheek pinches.

Unwilling to slander any sweet old lady, Y/N pictured Draco's grandmum as a strict lady with a tight grey bun and a permanent scowl, dishing out harsh punishments for things as simple as running around the garden. The girl was quite doubtful though. The Slytherin was spoiled rotten and had probably never received a single punishment in his entire life.

The young girl's mind had almost begun wandering into other thoughts about the blonde when he quite literally snapped her back into reality. Aww, at least the boy was above slapping girls she supposed. 

"I'm surprised you have any thoughts in there at all," he commented.

"Hah hah Malfoy, very funny. Hilarious." 

"Potion's done," he stated simply. 

Ahhh, so now was the chance. Sneakily, when her unsuspecting partner was looking away, the girl slipped the last of her Veritaserum into their freshly brewed potion. The swirly white potion fizzed for a second and turned a slightly off shade of eggshell, scaring the girl beyond belief.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea after all... Maybe Y/N could live without a potions tutor and with an owed favor looming above her head for the rest of her life. It certainly beats rotting in a cell in Azkaban for poisoning a Malfoy.

With a bit of disappointment at what her favor holding future would bring, the girl moved to bring her wand out to vanish the spiked drink. Damn her moral conscience!! 

"What's taking so long? Are you daft?" Malfoy sneered, snatching the contaminated potion from the girl's hand. A complete look of horror crossed the girl's face as she witnessed the boy down the drink with one gulp. "What's with that stupid look?"

"Does...anything feel weird?" she asked hurriedly.

"What do you mean weird? That's not the question to be asking. You should be taking notes," he responded, pointing to the empty notepad beside Y/N's cauldron. 

"Do you like Romeo and Juliet?" Y/N asked. 

"Are you serious? You should be taking notes right now you oaf." He cried angrily, clearly unhappy about the avoidance of completing their project. But then, as if being hit by a splash of cold water, the boy froze.

"What did you do?!" he roared, charging up to the girl with his wand held out in a threatening manner. The little lion found herself cornered by the snake by her own mistake. What a brilliant idea to slip a truth serum into the drink of the most volatile kid in school (Aside from Harry on occasions).

Y/N, with her chin up under the threat of the Slytherin's wand, gave the boy her sternest look possible despite the fear for her life. Malfoy wouldn't kill her. Malfoy wouldn't pull a Tom Riddle, kill a student, and pass it off on someone else. Right? He was a prick but no murderer. He'd get over this eventually. 

"Do you like Romeo and Juliet," she repeated through her gritted teeth. Malfoy's iron tight grip on his wand loosened for a split second, which the girl caught onto. With lightning-quick speed, she snatched the weapon from the Slytherin's hand and shoved him away. "Don't be surprised. I can play dirty too. Did you think I wouldn't have insurance?" 

The boy glared at Y/N angrily, ready to strike again. "Answer the question," she pressed.

"Yes," he growled before his devilishly sharp jaw tensed in annoyance. 

"Yes what?" 

"Yes I like Romeo and Juliet," he muttered.

"See that wasn't so hard," the girl teased, holding out the wizard's wand for him to take. The boy snatched his wand up before sulking to the other side of the class and letting out a stream of profanities Y/N was sure his grandmum would not be pleased to hear.

"You free on Wednesdays?" the girl asked carelessly, happy to be freed of the suffocating atmosphere and near death. "Four o clock. Same place in the library."

The girl's words went quite unnoticed by the boy who was so furious, she'd sworn there was smoke blowing out of his ears. Maybe Fred and George would like an idea like that if they hadn't already come up with it in that brilliant mind of theirs.

"Fucking...bloody cunt," Y/N heard come out of Malfoy's filthy word bearing mouth. 

The girl nearly let out an ill-timed chortle and had to slap a hand over her own lips to refrain from angering the boy further. What would little first year Malfoy say? Probably 'yOu tHinK thIs is fUNny dO yoU.'

With an amused grin plastered across her face, the girl leaned back on the dust-covered window sill. "Careful Malfoy, wasn't it just Friar Laurence who said to love moderately? Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow? Or something like that, I believe," she taunted, tapping her finger against her lips. 

"Shut your mouth. This isn't about love, you idiot! My father will hear about this!" 

"Ohhh what'd daddy going to hear about? Your being partners with, I recall you saying a 'half breed'," she snapped, creating two air quotes to emphasize. "Or mayyybe, that you like to read muggle books. I'm pretty sure you knew just what you were reading. And you liked it didn't you?" 

The boy remained quiet. Y/N wasn't exactly sure of her victory, but she took it as a yes. "Wednesdays, four o clock," she repeated before wandering over to her desk and picking up the empty notebook from her desk. "Now. I'll be taking notes, and you can answer. What a win-win situation! Now you can't even lie about the symptoms of our potion. All in the name of research right?"


	10. Triwizard Champion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It may not be Fred and George, but at least Y/N's got...other Triwizard champions as friend.

The rest of the week was horribly dull. The sun had decided to shield itself from the world behind foggy grey clouds and unnerving, unending rain. For whatever reason, Harry and Ron’s sudden fascination with the Goblet of Fire exploded, and Y/N and Hermione had no other choice but to accompany the two boys every day to the hall in which it was held. Often, the girls would be found reading off on a bench in the corner, their respective books being shed with the dim blue glow of the fire. 

Y/N especially disliked the rain. It made everything at Hogwarts gloomy and cold, and the girl hated getting cold. The standard Hogwarts uniform did little to ease the shivers that ran violently through the girl every few minutes, and her teeth were chattering so loudly, Snape had taken off five bloody house points from Gryffindor for "disrupting the class."

Y/N had been fuming profusely that afternoon. She'd complain about it to whoever would listen. Because honestly, who holds a classroom underground in a fireless dungeon where the sun does not shine, yet expect every single student to be completely warm.

Harry and Ron agreed that hating on Snape in any form was fair, while Hermione scolded the girl for not wearing extra layers. The rest of that day was spent arguing with Hermione over how the dress code jumper wasn't enough for protection and Hermione arguing back that she could've gotten a thicker one at Diagon alley during the summer if she hadn’t been so busy ogling at the bookstore. Y/N swore she saw a popular muggle book, and Hermione told her it was simply impossible. 

When the twins caught onto the argument, they only laughed and threw their jumpers at the girl, who then stuck her tongue out at them and threw it back. Though it did spark an insight moment in the girl, who then took to wearing Fred's sweater all week when out of school uniform as it was much warmer than anything she had. Props to Molly Weasley's knitting skills. (Yes the very sweater he'd given her at the start of school, which she never returned because it got lost in the bottom of her messy little trunk). 

Naturally, the twins had much to comment on Y/N’s choice of wardrobe, but let the girl keep the sweater without any complaints. Something about “looking cute.”

Aside from the little adjustments to her clothing choices, the girl had to make a regrettably large adjustment to her schedule. No more sauntering to her little corner of the library to hide in whatever novel she could find. Instead, she contented to sit beside her friends in front of the common room fireplace to dry herself from splashing into puddles all day or running from the rain.

She did break her anti-library streak on Monday when she parted herself from staring at the blue flame of the goblet to meet up with the foul snake for the "last" time to finish their essay on the effects of the wit-sharpening potion. Hermione had suggested that the girl could copy her essay, but Y/N refused and cried about how embarrassing it would be to never show up to the last meeting.

Draco Malfoy was early as always. He always had to be the first one there and the last one to leave. Or it could be that the Gryffindor was just unconditionally late. Either way, it was unnerving. The boy was always sitting on that stupid old chair and staring out that stupid old window. If Y/N didn't know better, she would've said he was daydreaming.

"Boo," she voiced monotonously after squeezing through the book ridden entrance.

The boy's pretty steel eyes lazily glanced over at the intruder. "Hilarious."

"Forsooth so valorous sir," she replied cheerfully, knowing fully well that Malfoy was now one of the few students in the entire castle to understand her Shakespearean slang. The girl was actually quite sad when her two firey haired friends had glazed over being called saucy boys days ago.

"Brilliant. You've gone looney," he scoffed.

"That was mean Malfoy," Y/N falsely pouted as she pulled out several pieces of parchment as well as her messy notes to write down her dreaded essay. Her partner rolled his eyes and got to work as well because honestly, neither student could care less about who said what or who was mean.

There really was no reason to be writing their essays together in the first place, aside from fact-checking with one another to make sure they didn't write something completely different. It was definitely Draco's idea. Shocking really. The first and only time he'd suggested it, Y/N thought he'd finally lost his bloody mind. Turned out, Draco Malfoy was sort of a control freak when it came to his work in class. Seemed like he was Snape's favorite student for a reason.

If she wasn't Snape's favorite pupil, then at the very least Y/N was brilliant at writing essays. The greasy, mean-spirited teacher would never applaud the girl on her writing skills, but the other professors certainly did. Unfortunately, excelling at writing a few essays would get the L/N nowhere in the wizarding world and her few merits were overlooked by Harry's sheer existence and Hermione's all rounded brilliance.

The more she mindlessly jotted down, the more her mind drifted to the blonde sitting across from her. It was rather unfortunate for Malfoy too. He seemed to excel at all levels of schooling and wizardry yet he was also on the same rocking dingy boat in the sea, watching as the magnificent cruise line sailed by, catching the eyes of all who looked. Only difference was that Y/N didn't mind. Malfoy had grown up on unfettered attention and needed it to survive.

"You did not just write twenty," he suddenly leered, causing a jolt to run through the girl and her quill to drag an ugly line at the end of the "y". 

"Oops, sorry bout that," she apologized sheepishly before scribbling out the word. Y/N probably would've made a comment about how Malfoy was watching her-or more importantly NOT ignoring her-, but she was indeed grateful for the comment.

The two didn't speak until Y/N was nearly done writing, and she had slowed down to think about how to summarize her work for the conclusion. Y/N, being one of those "never edit your work and leave it up to fate" type of students, was just about ready to slam her book close and beeline right out of the library in a few minutes.

She suspected her partner to do the exact same thing. But the unpredictable boy put down his quill and opened his hand, eyes waiting expectantly. "Hand it over," he demanded monotonously. 

"What?" the girl spluttered with wide eyes. Her paper? Why? Was Malfoy just looking for an excuse to make fun of her writing now too?

He scoffed and crossed his arms in that arrogant way that made Y/N want to slap him right across his pretty face. "Snape says your essays have too much information and not enough at the same time," he revealed.

"Is that all he says?" she asked curiously, leaning forward a bit without realizing it.

"No, but that's what he says about your assignments. Now hand it over before you drag down my grade," said Malfoy.

"Fine," she sighed as she shoved her papers across the table. Wordlessly, the boy picked up her essay and began scanning the work. "So you're going to read mine, but I'm not allowed to read yours?" she snapped, a bit desperate to find a comeback in any way against the boy. 

"You won't find any mistakes," he announced confidently, angering the girl. 

'What a pompous arse,' she'd grumbled in her mind. 'wAiT tIlL MY fATheR hEarS aBoUt tHis.'

When the boy dipped his ink and began to scribble notes all over her work, the girl swore she was going to hurl the cruciatus curse right at him. Her precious work! How dare that git ruin her paper?! Now she'd have to completely rewrite the essay.

With a deep frown plastered across her lips, the girl snatched the boy's own work and began to read through it. He didn't say a single word and only continued to scan through her writing as if he knew there were no mistakes. She gripped harshly onto the parchment in frustration and resisted the urge to rip it to shreds.

"Could you at least pretend to be gentle you oaf! You'll smudge the ink," he snapped.

Y/N rolled her eyes and then really began to read his paper. Halfway through, she decided that if given the faintest bit of a chance, she'd burn the boy into a pile of ashes. Not fair in the least! He was smart and he wrote better than she did!

The girl had gone through word for word and hadn't found a single mistake. Not even a misplaced comma or grammatically incorrect sentence. At least Harry's or Ron's had two or three misspelled words. Malfoy could've easily rivaled Hermione.

With a very Malfoy-like sneer, the girl threw down the papers across the desk. "Not a single mistake," she grumbled begrudgingly while Draco smirked arrogantly and tossed her papers at her end of the desk. 

"Not bad," he replied.

The sheer amount of tiny comments on the side of her paper made Y/N want to cry. Malfoy wasn't even trying and yet he was worse than any professor she'd ever had. "Thanks," she spat with an irked expression on her pretty face. Suddenly, Y/N no longer had the motivation to write. Not in front of Malfoy. Never in a million years.

Lazily, she took out another piece of parchment and slammed it onto the desk. 'I hate it here,' she thought.

But thank god for the two fiery red heads of hair that popped out of the bookshelf nearest the entrance. Their two scruffy tresses standing out against the dull grey and brown leather books and dim candles. "Afternoon!" the twins chimed simultaneously, causing their friend to knock over her jar of ink.

In the midst of fixing her toppled ink and turning to peer at the two uninvited guests, the girl caught a glimpse of Draco's unsatisfied face. If looks could kill, Y/N and her friends would have been six feet under by now.

"What are you doing here?" Malfoy sneered.

"We'd ask the same question mate, but we've got some business with Y/N," Fred said.

"We do?" Y/N questioned, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to retrieve any memory of this "business."

"We do," George mirrored as he and Fred squeezed into the stacked books.

Malfoy, still looking ready to murder, was about to open his mouth to speak until Y/N sent a harsh kick to his shin from under the table. The boy hissed at the sudden pain and sent the harshest glare she had ever seen at Y/N. Brilliant, now she was on the chopping block too. "Come on, we've got something to show you," the twins insisted as they took a knee beside the girl's chair to level with her eye line.

"You can't just leave in the middle of our project," Malfoy pointed out angrily. "Not with those bloody gingers."

Y/N, who had yet to come to a decision began to rethink her possibilities. It wasn't like she wanted to spend time with the blonde brat, but she needed to get her portion of the work done. However, she really wanted to see what idiotic thing the twins had done now. "Hate to say it, but Malfoy's sort of right." She paused. "About the project thing, not the ginger thing!" she hurriedly added. "Also, walking's sort of a hassle anyways."

The two boys rose to their feet, a blank look on their faces. Strange. Almost as quick as Harry's firebolt, the Weasley twins' expression then shifted to one of mischief. "Suit yourself, princess," they chimed before George leaned right over to haul Y/N off her chair and over his shoulder like a potato sack.

Having expected this, the girl sighed, her hair flipping wildly over her head and swaying with every movement. "Oh no, I've been kidnapped, stolen, nicked....," she called out monotonously as she hung from George's broad shoulder. "...Any other words?" 

"Captured," Fred suggested.

"Seized," George offered.

"Hijacked," the two said.

"Snatched," all three chorused, almost as if their little scene were rehearsed beforehand.

Malfoy's less than pleased scowl didn't make its way to Y/N's line of sight but did catch the attention of the ginger twins who couldn't help but smile at the blonde's discomfort. "You've got to be kidding me," the boy sighed as he aggressively face palmed into his hands.

"Right, we'll be off then," Fred called.

"Wait wait wait! Hold on a minute," Y/N yelped, her legs kicking around the air and nearly kicking George in the face as her arms wiggled for freedom. The twins stopped walking, looking at their flailing friend. "You'll take care of my stuff right Malfoy?" she asked, almost jokingly though still putting trust into her partner. 

"I'm not some filthy house elf," he spat viciously. "Do it yourself."

"That's not very kind," George muttered, not bothering to confront the bully. 

His twin, on the other hand, flexed his jaw unknowingly as he clenched his teeth together and pivoted around immediately. Fred didn't very well care too intensely on the subject of Malfoy mistreating his workers, but the implication involving Y/N made him boil with anger. George, taking note of his twin's abrupt fury, nudged Fred's arm with his free elbow and nodded towards the exit.

"Whatever," Y/N scoffed. "I'll come get my stuff later. If anything goes missing, I'll just spike your pumpkin juice," she cheerily threatened, still hanging downwards and quickly becoming uncomfortable with a forming headache. "Off to victory now horsie!"

George grabbed onto his brother's forearm and quickly forced him to the entrance. "You did not just call me a horse," George chuckled as he walked down the skinny path between the library's bookshelves. 

"Oh she did Georgie," Fred answered with an amused glint to his voice.

"Seeing as you carry me everywhere, why not just accept it. See even your name rhymes with horsie," Y/N noted thoughtfully as she stared at the moving carpet.

Out of nowhere, the carpet was suddenly coming much closer to her face and George's hand was no longer keeping his steady on his shoulder. The girl landed with a thump and a groan, having just barely avoided a nasty carpet burn to her face by deflecting to her elbows.

"That was rather mean don't you think?" she pouted. The two boys extended their hands toward the girl who took them both but suffered an even worse fate when she was flung forward with the force of them pulling her up. Attempting to seem casual, Y/N then fumbled into a walk and continued walking without looking back at the twins.

The twins, with their ever long legs and blessed athleticism, easily caught up to the girl and settled into a walking pace with each boy on either side of Y/N. "Didn't know you spent your library time with Malfoy," Fred started, putting an emphasis on the hated boy.

"I don't," Y/N replied softly as the trio passed by Madam Pince's watchful eagle eyes and observant ears. George hummed, shoving his hands into his robe pockets. "He's my potions partner you dimwits," she stated, louder now that they were outside the library.

The twins shrugged and slung their arms around the girl's shoulder as they walked, passing through several castle corridors. "By the way," Y/N began. "What's so important that you had to come to the library to get me?"

"Glad you asked, "they both chimed. And out of both the boys' pockets came a vial filled with a suspicious potion. Aging potion as it would seem. 

"I see..." 

"Well you're gonna see more than that love, come on," they both said as they grabbed onto their younger friend's hands and ran off.

"What're you doing?! Why are we running!" The poor girl screeched as she was being dragged off into an unknown location. Oh, how she wished to be back with Malfoy in the library, NOT running.

"We've got an appointment with glory and we're late. What best friends would we be if you weren't there to see?" They yelled back as they sped onwards even faster.

The displeased girl despised running with her entire being. Yet here she was, one foot after another, racing through the corridors. Truly, horrendous. With a groan, the girl had no choice but to attempt to keep up with the ungodly pace of her two partners in crime.

Finally, the trio burst through the doors of the great hall accompanied by shouts of victory from the twins and cheers of encouragement from the students within the hall itself. Feeling embarrassed by the number of stares in her general direction, the girl slipped her hands out of the grasps of Fred and George and stalked off towards where Hermione had been sitting when she left. 

"I thought you were supposed to be in the library," said the bushy-haired girl as Y/N plopped down onto the seat beside her. 

"We rescued her from a boring study session! Much thanks for saving our Y/N a front-row seat to the show," the twins interrupted. 

"Ready Fred?"

"Ready George."

Initially, Y/N was set on watching her friends initiate their little scheme and possibly fail miserably, but her eyes quickly drifted from the two boys' linked arms to the boy standing farther behind them in her peripheral vision. A choked gasp left the girl's lips as she scrambled to hide closer to Hermione. 

"What are you doing?!" Hermione asked in a hurried whisper, trying not to steal attention away from the twins' moment of glory.

"Since when did Cedric get here?" Y/N whispered back harshly. Suddenly, her hands felt clammy with the ghost sensation of being in the hold of Fred and George just moments ago. Did Cedric see that? Did he think that she and the twins were something closer than friends?

The twins now looked back at Y/N like kids asking permission from their mother to unleash all hell on a playground. In turn, the girl gave them two nervous thumbs up, signaling the ginger-haired boys to jump confidently into the circle.

"Yeahhh!" they shouted, hyping up the crowd of students. Unlike the displeased Hermione, Y/N clapped when her two identical friends dropped their slips of paper into the goblet of fire. 

"What'd got your wand in a knot?" the girl asked.

"Dumbledore drew that age line. There's no way Fred and George should've been able to put their names in, let alone get in the line," she huffed, turning another page of the heavy book she'd been reading.

"I mean, it worked though didn't-oh." Just as the girl was about to finish defending her mischievous friends, the goblet exploded into life, letting out a swirl of dancing flames and knocking the twins onto the ground several feet away. Ouch. That had to hurt. 

Hermione chuckled as Y/N let out a string of "Damn it" and scurried to check on her friends only to be greeted by two ancient men sporting wispy white beards tackling each other to the ground. She couldn't help but laugh along with the other students and egg the two on. Alongside Ron and Harry, the girl chanted "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight," as the twins wrestled each other on the ground. Y/N at this point was in near hysterics as the blur of entangled bodies began to pull at each other's beards.

Then, the crowd seemed to disperse out of nowhere, giving way to the trio of Durmstrangs striding confidently into the hall. Even the two old geezers struggling on the floor seemed to stop their antics. Quietly as to not disturb the scene, Y/N snuck up to the twins to check on them, though still keeping an eye on the intimidating trio.

"You two have really done it this time," she chuckled, extending her hand to the boys. 

"Hey, at least we're old enough to drink now. What do you say? Break into Professor Moody's storage?" Fred suggested as Y/N helped him up.

"I bet he's got fire whiskey in that flask," George inputted.

"Please, You two are old enough to be my grandparents. The only place we're going is Madam Pomfrey's," she retorted, grabbing them by their cloak sleeves and dragging them to the door. On her way, the girl planned to send a silent message to Hermione to tell her friend she'd be in the infirmary, but the bushy-haired girl seemed to be occupied with making questionable eye contact with none other than Viktor Krum himself. 

The girl looked back at the twins as soon as she felt a nudge on her side. "Don't think they're-" George paused to send a wink, "-do you?" 

"I'm going to pretend you did not just say that...but I'll ask Hermione about it later," the girl groaned, finally leaving the scene of Fred and George's crime.

~

Madam Pomfrey's didn't have a cure for Fred and George's curious case of "old geezer syndrome." In fact, she'd only given the boys some typical remedies for their sudden infliction of arthritis and back pains. It took all of Y/N’s will to hold in her laugh when Madam Pomfrey had told them that they could stay in the medical wing if they felt too weak to move.

The two lazy twins of course decided that they were on the brink of death and would need to spend their time alone on the beds yelling like an old married couple along with the other kids who also thought it'd be a brilliant plan to grow old. Expectedly, Fred and George weren't the only eager students to enter the Triwizard tournament.

Thank Merlin that there wasn't a large number of injured students at the moment or Y/N, Fred, and George would have been kicked out. Especially since they weren't exactly doing anything productive or remotely respectful. Instead, the trio found the worst ways to be loud or downright annoying. Eventually, though, they did manage to settle down and shut up at the behest of Madame Pomfrey, but not until it was nearly curfew.

Sat on the end of Fred's bed, the girl had been tousling her friend's new beard with much enjoyment. At some point, the girl had begun braiding the hair and laughing. "No, I swear you'll look brilliant. When you turn normal again, they won't even be there anymore," she stated as her fingers wove the strands into the simple pattern.

"You look dashing Freddie," George commented from the other bed.

"You're next George," she threatened, pointing an accusing finger at the boy.

"I for one, think I'll look rather nice with a braid. Can't say the same about Georgie. I'd hate to be born with that face," Fred joked.

With an amused grin on her face, the girl facepalmed. Boys. 

"Done!" She tied off the beard with a cute little bow and wiggled her fingers, making little jazz hands. "You're like a viking now!"

"Or a princess," George snorted as the girl slid off of Fred's bed and onto his. 

She lightly slapped his arm before taking in the long strands of white hair protruding unnaturally out of his chin. "This is mostly just so you two don't start hiding things in your beard like Dumbledore."

"Why didn't we think of that?" the two questioned.

"Too late now. You can't ruin my hard work," she huffed, fingers running through George's beard to separate it into three parts.

"So," Fred started.

The girl paused, her fingers still holding onto her mini-project before continuing. "So what?"

"Since we've got beards-," started George.

"Do you think we're attractive now?" Fred finished, sending one of his famous winks at the girl.

Flabbergasted, the girl's words seemed to stick to her throat. Speechless really. "I uh what the?! Where'd you get that crazy idea?"

"Well you said the other day you liked scruffy beards," George stated. Y/N's eyebrows only furrowed as she tried to recall when she'd said such a preposterous statement. George snickered at the girl's cute, confused expression before reaching over to close her previously open jaw. 

"You know when you said you fancied Fil-" With a wild look in her eyes, the girl lunged over to Fred's bed, falling off of George's and scrambling over to slap her hand over the boy's mouth. 

"I remember," she hissed, slipping her hand back into her robe's pockets and scanning the medical wing for prying ears. Much to her discomfort, their quarrel had caught the attention of some nearby students who'd quieted down in their own conversations to gain some juicy gossip.

'You don't need beards to look attractive,' she almost said but slapped her hand over her own mouth once she realized the implications. The twins gave the girl questioning glances but said nothing in wait of her words. "It's past curfew. I'll see you nincompoops tomorrow," she rushed, swiveling on her feet and speed walking out the door, not without sending Madame Pomfrey a polite "goodnight."

"What do you think she was going to say, George?" Fred questioned.

His twin shrugged. It could've been anything. Who knows.

~

The halls were especially dark that night, with the torches flickering dully against the all-consuming shadows that lurked at every edge of the corridor. Unfortunately for the girl, the trip from the medical wing to the library required an amount of walking that the girl could never have wished on her greatest enemy. Truly, why did Hogwarts have to be such a big school?

With her hands tucked into her pockets for protection against the biting cold, Y/N strolled leisurely down the dark hallways knowing that Filch would have been patrolling the fourth flour at this moment and wouldn't be anywhere close to where she was headed. Up until she saw the dim glow of an approaching lantern.

"Shit, no, damn it," Y/N cursed furiously under her breath as she began scanning the hallways for an exist. Only windows. Was she really going to take that risk? Sudden death or detention? Well that depended on detention with which teacher. 

Huffing angrily, the girl simply decided to turn back and head to the medical wing. If anything, she could crash at one of the beds for the night and leave before dawn the next morning. The girl could already hear the comments from her older friends but decided it was better than detention.

"Y/N?"

Damn it. Of course, it had to be him. Wait. Why is that such a bad thing? Oh maybe because she might've started to come across as a delinquent.

"Heyyyy Cedric. Fancy meeting you here," she chirped awkwardly, her body stiffening and curling into itself.

"Out past curfew again? I'm starting to think you sneak out just to see me," he joked lightheartedly, to which the girl grimaced a bit. It felt weird to joke about wanting to see her crush that way for some reason. "What are you doing here though?" He asked as he walked up to Y/N, shining the lantern's dim glow on the girl. 

"I left my stuff at the library and I need it for class tomorrow," she explained.

"Oh, I guess I'll have to let you off the hook this time."

"I was on the hook last time?" She asked, eyes wide with worry.

"Uh not really," he chuckled.

"Oh," she muttered, mouth formed into an O shape as her jaw dropped.

"I guess I shouldn't just let students wander the halls after curfew." The girl grimaced, thinking about her house points. "But I know you're a trustworthy student, right?"

"Mhm, yup. Perfectly trustworthy," she muttered.

"In any case, I should accompany you to the library," he offered.

Internally, the girl screamed a very long string of incomprehensible excitement, but outside she nodded and followed the prefect to the library. Surprisingly, Y/N found that she wasn't as much of a mess around the boy as she thought she would be. Maybe it was the constant meetings. Speaking of, when was the last time she had seen or hung out with the boy? 

Unfortunately, the girl's question would have to be answered later as they'd just arrived in front of the grand doors of the library. Luckily for the out-past-curfew girl and the prefect, Madam Pince never locked up the library. All the books worth taking were either sealed away or deep within the restriction section. Y/N only knew this information from Harry as the poor boy had to find out the hard way of the consequences of opening up restricted books.

While that was a good tidbit of information to know, the girl was merely looking for her books and papers. "I never knew the library got so dark at night," Cedric muttered as he followed the girl through the dark, his shoes padding softly against the wood as opposed to his companion's completely silent footsteps. If he didn't know any better, the boy would've thought Y/N was gliding down the walkway like a ghost.

"I'm surprised you're okay with sneaking into the library," the girl whispered as she passed rows and rows of bookshelves to get to the farthest end of the room. 

"Filch is across the school right now, we have plenty of time," he answered back quietly, the warmth from his body noticeably radiating off of him from the close distance at which the boy was following Y/N. It was at this point that the girl realized she was way too warm for her liking. Was it the glowing lantern's fault? Cedric's? Or the heavy blush creeping from her neck, attacking her ears, and eventually spreading its rosy redness to her cheeks?

A strange gurgled noise presented itself to the room as the girl tried to clear her throat and find a reply to keep the conversation going. The urge to slam her head into the side of a nearby bookshelf out of sheer embarrassment viciously surged through the girl. Now, her blush had intensified from embarrassment and embarrassment alone.

"I-uh," she paused to think. "Wait how do you know about that?" 

"I've been patrolling after hours for a while now. Filch kind of scares me sometimes, so I like to stay away," he chuckled.

Drat! If Cedric had been patrolling since the last term, that meant Y/N's sneaking skills were slipping. Especially since she hadn't once encountered the boy on her nightly adventures until this year. Or it could've been fate. No, that was too ridiculous.

"He is sort of scary sometimes. Especially when he runs."

"If I saw Filch running toward me in the dark, I'd be completely petrified," he added. 

"Yeah," Y/N muttered, now too immersed in slipping in between the books that hid her alcove from the rest of the school. The boy, though less agile in fitting through tight spaces than the girl, effectively made it through with little casualties- casualties being the toppled books that could fall at any stray arm movements in a given direction.

"I didn't know anyone came in here," Cedric commented as he shined the lantern's dim light across the space.

"They don't. That's why I come," Y/N replied, scanning the table for her supplies. A frown and scrunched brows adorned the girl's face at the sight of the empty wood table. Her breath caught haphazardly in her throat while her heart dropped to her gut. What happened to her stuff? Her essay? 

"Y/N," Cedric spoke as he turned off the lantern. The girl, still shocked and running through the whereabouts of her essay stood rooted in her spot as she stared at the empty desk.

"Y/N," The brunette called again, now at a harsh whisper. His hand gripped her shoulder hurriedly. "Y/N, I think someone's coming."

The girl's eyes widened as she turned to face the boy. Just as she opened her mouth to let out a slew of quiet curses, her companion clamped a hand around her mouth and made a shushing motion with his finger. Cedric gestured to the bookshelf closest to the entrance and as soon as his hand was off of her face, Y/N followed him to the dark corner, crouching down to steady herself.

"Hearing students Mrs. Norris?" The croaky voice of the school's caretaker grew louder, his own lantern casting light around the library.

Nervousness crept into the two students' systems as the glow drew closer and closer, even piercing through some of the books that kept their hiding spot concealed. Both Cedric's and Y/N's eyes narrowed at the entrance as the duo pressed their backs into the jutting shelves. Every breath the girl took felt as if it were echoing off all the library walls and threatening to expose the two.

The light was at its brightest now. It glided left once and then over to the right. Cedric and Y/N held their breaths, making eye contact with each other and sharing a silent nod in acknowledgment of their fate.

Then it was gone. The menacing yellow light had finally receded from the area accompanied by grumblings of how Mrs. Norris must've been growing old or "those damn students always leaving their stuff in the library."

When Y/N heard the library door click shut, she finally felt as if she could breathe again. If the heaving breaths of anxiety were any indicator, the girl was extremely relieved to be free of the Filch. "I'm never doing that again," she huffed quietly, placing a hand over her still fast-beating heart.

"That was terrifying," said Cedric, also recovering from the sheer anxiety that was nearly being exposed. "But your uh," he started, gesturing to the empty table.

"Honestly I can borrow Hermione's books or ask for another set. Right now, I just want to get as far away from Filch as possible," she sighed.

"Agreed." 

After Cedric had kindly offered his hand for assistance, the two teens scurried out of the library as stealthily as possible. Still, despite the caretaker's departure, both Y/N and Cedric were on edge. Y/N decided she wasn't going to encounter anyone else that night and stalked over to the nearest accessible passageway.

The school heartthrob watched in awe as the girl pressed on a stone brick within a nearby wall and activated a sliding door. "I can take it from here so you don't get in trouble," Y/N suggested, feeling guilty for the close call just earlier. 

"No it's okay, I'll come along," Cedric insisted as he relit the lantern.

"Are you just saying that so you can check out the cool passageway?" she asked almost teasingly, which was a strange feeling as she usually never acted so confident around the attractive boy.

"I think you've caught me red-handed," he laughed, stepping into the secret corridor after the girl. The wall slid back in place easily and allowed for a normal volume conversation. "It's been a while since we last saw each other hasn't it."

"Yeah. The professors have gone absolutely mad this term with homework. It's not even like we're taking OWLs either," she huffed in exasperation because truly, she did sort of miss seeing the pretty boy's face around.

"You're a great student and witch, I'm sure you've got it handled. You could also come to me if you're ever stuck. I'd be glad to help," he offered, causing the girl's heart to do a back handspring into a flip that landed into a heap of mush. 

"That'd-That'd be great, thanks," she muttered shyly, looking down at the floor as she wondered how else to keep up the conversation. "How about you? Anything new?"

"I entered the Triwizard tournament."

Oh. Well, that was unexpected. The girl didn't even know her crush was seventeen already, but that was her mistake for unconsciously assuming everyone had their birthdays around or after the twins' as theirs were the only birthday she'd ever bother to remember. 

"That'd brilliant," she cheered enthusiastically. "I hope you end up as the Triwizard champion. You'd be the best at representing Hogwarts."

"I hope so too," he replied honestly and a bit quietly, almost looking determined in a way that suggested some other hidden factor.

"It's a bit...Dangerous isn't it?"

"Yeah," he muttered grimly. "But I have to win. My dad is expecting something great and I can't disappoint him," he spoke again, though slightly louder and much more determined. 

"I think you'll do brilliantly," the girl encouraged, sending Cedric the most sincere smile she could muster, hoping that the boy understood she was supporting him. He too then flashed a dazzling smile back at the girl.

"Well, now I've gotta become the Triwizard champion for sure. With you cheering me on, it's impossible not to," the Hufflepuff mused as he nudged the girl playfully. 

Y/N would have said more had she not reached the opening that would take her right to the painting of the fat lady. Sighing, she pushed open the wall, wishing that she'd magically gotten lost alone in those passageways with the Cedric Diggory. 

"I guess I'll see you next time then," she said sadly as the two stepped out of the corridor. With a small wave, the girl then began to shuffle back to the painting of the fat lady which waited for her expectantly.

"Y/N," Cedric called softly. To which the girl turned around both with expectancy and an air of surprise at the same time. "As much as I enjoy your company. Let's not make this a habit yeah? I'd really hate for you to get in trouble one of these days."

"Don't worry Cedric, you won't catch me next time," she said, almost as is challenging the boy to catch her in her nighttime escapades. "Good night."

"Good night."

Y/N was quick to spout the password at the painted lady and hurry into the mostly empty common room. To be expected as most students were already preparing for bed. With a heavy sigh, the girl trudged up the stairs and into her dorm. 

She wasn't sure if it was a good or bad sigh. Sure she was tired and worried about her missing essay, but she also got to spend time with Cedric Diggory of all people. Not to mention, the Hufflepuff had opened up about something that she was sure wasn't exactly common knowledge.

The old door of her dorm creaked open as the girl slipped inside. Wait a second. Something was different. Not different in a bad way, but different in a "I don't remember putting this here" way. Y/N scrambled over to her trunk to make sure her weak, desperately in need of glasses, eyes weren't deceiving her.

Sitting right on top of her trunk was her textbook, quill and ink, and the essay she had so dreaded rewriting. 

"Lavender," Y/N called, knowing the Gryffindor girl who bunked in the bed to her right was always in the dorm rooms when possible.

"Hm?"

"How'd this get here?" Y/N asked, almost nonchalantly as she shed herself of her school robe and loosened her tie.

"Oh yeah that. Some first year Slytherin was waiting outside the common with it. Wouldn't tell us who sent him, but he did look bloody terrified," Lavender explained, rolling over in her bed to face the girl.

"Thanks," Y/N said quietly as she collapsed on her bed in thought.

It was almost comical. Of course, Malfoy wouldn't be caught dead loitering outside of the Gryffindor common. And of course, only Malfoy would probably threaten a scared first year into such a trivial task. But she did revel in one fact alone: Draco Malfoy actually did something nice for once.

~

In about a week, it was time for the students of Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbaton to shuffle into the great hall and squeeze into seats alongside one another in an effort to watch the choosing of champions. Naturally, with Dumbledore's flair for the dramatics, the great hall just had to be lit up almost solely through the goblet of fire. The flickering torches hanging from the ceiling really did nothing against the dreadfully dark night. 

"Sit down, please," their headmaster commanded as the students milled about.

It wasn't like it was such an inconveniencing eyesore that students stumbled over each other if they were in the farthest corner from the light source. Not at all! Y/N tripping over Hermione's feet and nearly sitting on Harry's hand as she squinted for her life was simply a byproduct of some other factor. 

Eventually, though, the great hall did finally calm down and the murmur of students chatting away quietly about whom they thought would compete from each school died out. Y/N sat anxiously beside Harry, who looked normal as usual. Obviously the tournament didn't affect either friend as they couldn't compete in it in the first place, but the two were still excited to see who from their school would be the lucky draw.

"Fred and George look pretty bummed out about not competing," Harry noted.

"Yeah, but they're just disappointed they have to find a way to earn money for their joke shop another way," Y/N replied, leaning on the table with her chin propped up in her hand.

"Now the moment you've all been waiting for. The champion selection," Dumbledore announced before dimming all the lights aside from the Goblet. 

Harry and Y/N gave each other a look of excitement before focusing their eyes back on Dumbledore, who was still slowly reaching toward the grey goblet in the middle of the hall. It sputtered and flickered violently before turning a vibrant shade of magenta and spouting a burnt piece of paper at the headmaster.

Y/N held her breath in anticipation. The first champion.

"The Durmstrang champion is Viktor Krum!" The audience then burst out into a chorus of cheers and claps as the Bulgarian rose from his seat and strode towards the champion's area. 

"I expected that," the girl heard Ron say proudly from somewhere behind her. Ah, that boy's love for the quidditch player.

Again, the fire erupted into a display of brilliant colors before throwing out what appeared to be a circular piece of paper. Y/N had to squint to tell, so she wasn't so sure. At least they were at lucky champion number two.

"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!" The hall filled with cheers once again as the pretty girl dressed in blue rose from her seat and practically glided over to the champion's area. Y/N heard a scoff come from Hermione as the pretty champion left.

Well, it was no secret the bushy-haired girl didn't quite like Mrs. Delacour. She'd claimed it was because Fluer was too pompous or vain, but Y/N swore on her life it was because their ginger-haired dork of a friend was paying a little too much attention to the French girl. One could never be too sure though.

But nevermind that. Now that the Durmstrang and Beauxbaton champions had been announced, it was time for the Hogwarts champion. Y/N crossed her fingers under the table and bit on her lips in anticipation as the fire sputtered to life once more.

"The Hogwarts Champion, Cedric Diggory!" 

Y/N swore she had never clapped so hard in her life. Sure it may have attracted the unwanted attention of Hermione as well as Ginny who sat a few seats away, but the girl was just so ecstatic. Y/N just about swooned internally as Cedric scanned the room and sent a captivating smile at the girl before he left. 

"Excellent!" Dumbledore bellowed. "We now have our three champions, but in the end, only one will go down in history. Only one will hoist this chalice of champions. This vessel of victory, the Triwizard cup!" 

Despite the wonderful, dramatic declaration from the Hogwarts Headmaster, the room's attention was slowly drawn back to the Goblet of Fire. The swirling flames dazzled the crowd yet scared them at the same time. Y/N once again looked to her friends with confusion. Was this supposed to happen?

For the last time that evening, the goblet gave away one more slip of paper. "Harry Potter," Dumbledore said quietly. "Harry Potter?" he repeated slightly louder, causing the poor boy to sink into his chair in fright.

Y/N, just as confused as the other kids, stared at her friend with the widest eyes known to man. No way. There was no way that Harry would have put his name in the Goblet. She swore to Merlin that boy had told her he desired nothing from the tournament but to simply watch it.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore shouted much louder this time, eliciting two completely opposite reactions from the girls sitting next to the new Triwizard champion. 

Y/N clung onto her friend's arm, keeping him rooted to her side out of fear, while Hermione pushed the boy out to the front. The young L/N's grip loosened as Harry slowly moved into action. He sent one last, fearful look at his friends before shuffling past Dumbledore and disappearing past the door.

A grim expression presented itself on Hermione's and Y/N's faces as they looked to one another for some shred of understanding. The girl took a hoarse gulp, feeling as if her throat were painfully dry. One of her best friends was a Triwizard champion now. Harry Potter was going to compete in the Triwizard tournament. What if he got injured? What if he died? As soon as the boy was out of whatever meeting was happening outside of her visage, Y/N would need some explanations from Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's about to get spicy ;)


	11. Boys Continuing to be Stupid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Ron fight and Hermione and Y/N have to be the mature ones...as always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, for clarification, a bell is the part of a brass instrument that curves outwards and an "ave" means a bird, not an avenue lol (Hopefully this explains it.)

It was chaos as soon as Y/N stepped back into the common room later that night. Either loud gossip or the scuffle of students running around filled the small space. Leave it to the good-mannered Weasley twins to throw a party for a boy who'd accidentally stolen their coveted glory as the Triwizard champion. Y/N swore on her life that the two boys wouldn't stop pestering her about it all the way up the grand staircase and down the corridors.

The girl and Hermione tried their best to assure all their fellow housemates that Harry Potter was no cheat, he did not intend to enter the tournament in the slightest bit, and there was a possibility his entry would be disqualified. But alas, the words of wisdom from the two girls fell on deaf ears as the Gryffindors riled themselves up at the fact that they would have a champion representing their house.

As there were no "Congrats on swindling your name into a life-threatening tournament" decorations to be found, the excited Gryffindors settled on their usual set up of butterbeer and food. Unfortunately, it was Fred and George who were in charge of sneaking in the supplies, and that meant Y/N too. She'd almost gotten away from the task too if it weren't for her getting stuck behind a crowd on the way up to stairs to freedom. 

No one quite knew of when their champion would return, so no time was spared in rushing down to the Hogwarts kitchen and stuffing their bags full of treats and beverages that the house elves were more than happy to supply. As soon as the trio were back in the common room, however, Y/N was quick to slip through the crowd of students and away from sight. Though, not wanting to miss speaking to her friend, she stayed in the dark, unlit areas of the balcony connecting the boys and girls dorms.

Harry soon appeared through the portrait hole to the jubilant cheers and shouts from his fellow Gryffindors. Even from her spot above the party, Y/N could tell the boy was uncomfortable with the attention. Y/N couldn't fully understand what her friend was thinking or going through, but she could certainly guess that he hated being accused of entering the tournament whether it was in a positive or negative light.

Hermione, from her expectant spot in the common room, nearly threw a fit as the boy walked in, her wild hair managing to make her look mad as she scolded Harry and demanded answers. It was the same old distressed pleas of innocence from Harry, that Hermione had no choice but to accept. 

Fred and George were grouping around Harry as he tried to weave through the crowd of students. As Y/N approached the balcony railing for a better view of the boy, she could faintly hear the twins asking him how he'd managed to do it or congratulating him for achieving such a feat.

Once again, Harry denied all association with the crime as he and Hermione brushed past the rowdy twins, looking around for his other friends. He found Y/N leaning against the railing, looking down at him with worry written all over her face, but couldn't manage to find Ronald anywhere through the mass of bodies.

Y/N stared at the black-haired boy as he and her friend arrived at the top of the stairs. Hermione left to go to bed, but Harry stayed. 

"Just so we're clear. You didn't put your name in the goblet of fire," Y/N stated, almost question like.

Harry, with the exasperation of a boy who'd repeated the same thing all night, nodded. 

Sighing, the girl ran a hand through her hair as she stared holes into the floor. "What did Dumbledore say?" 

"I'm a Triwizard champion now."

"Merlin Harry! Why can't you go a single year without almost dying?"

"It's not like I'm trying. Bad things always happen around me," he responded in what would be considered an angry manner if Y/N hadn't known the boy so well.

"Well if there's nothing we can do, then we'll have to make sure you don't die. Or well maybe Hermione will. Ron and I can cheer you on," Y/N affirmed.

A look of sudden remembrance flashed across the boy's face. "Have you seen Ron?"

The girl nodded her head no and walked past the boy to the stairs leading to her dorm room. "I'm sure you'll find him eventually. It's not like you two don't sleep next to each other. Night Harry."

"Goodnight Y/N," Harry replied, watching as his pretty friend shut the door behind her before he himself dragged his tired body back to his dorm room.

~

Something had happened that night, and not a single soul knew a thing about it. When Y/N sat down next to her friends the next morning, there was a thick air of tension that she was sure had even reached the Slytherin table. In fact, she was completely sure Malfoy had gotten a load of whatever feud was happening between the chosen one and his best friend.

Y/N and Hermione couldn't even bear to look at either boy. Harry was mad, sure, but Ron was fuming, absolutely bubbling over with hate and rage. Neither girl knew why, and Y/N even had to forgo sitting beside Fred and George to try to solve the mystery of the quarreling boys.

Much telepathic communication occurred between the two girls that morning. Both were far too worried about speaking and had to settle on sending looks at each other over their toasts. Hell, even the twins wouldn't attempt to break the silence that engulfed their portion of the Gryffindor table.

"What's up between you two dimwits?" Ginny suddenly asked, causing Y/N to choke on her orange juice in shock. The now hacking girl was just glad she hadn't spilled the drink out through her nose or something stupid.

Her eyes trained on Ron, hoping to receive an answer, but the ginger only got up from his seat and walked out of the doors of the Great Hall. "Do I follow?" she whispered to her female companion.

"No you stay with Harry, I'll go talk to him," Hermione responded as she took all her things with her and hurried out the door after their redhead friend. 

Y/N then turned her attention to Harry, who quietly sipped his cup of orange juice and stared down at the table as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. His emerald eyes finally left the table to look at the girl sitting across from him sheepishly. "So, guess it's just us now," she spoke. "Want to go to class?"

"Yeah."

Y/N knew that the fiasco during breakfast wasn't going to end as soon as it started, but she really wished it did. Throughout the day, Ron had been avoiding a disgruntled Harry. When Y/N asked about it, the black-haired wizard shrugged his shoulders and looked away.

The rift wasn't doing anything for their group of friends. Ron had taken to hanging around Seamus Finnegan and Harry had begrudgingly hung around Neville Longbottom. Meanwhile, Y/N and Hermione switched between the boys as if they were their chaperones keeping the friends from tearing each other apart. 

Y/N had begun spending more time around Harry when he and Ron drifted apart. The twins were unsatisfied with the outcome and chided their little brother for taking their best friend away, but never got mad at Harry. Maybe they knew it was because the boy needed the company. Either way, the Weasley family present at Hogwarts assured Hermione and Y/N that Ron would get over it eventually with time.

But time was not enough for the impatient Y/N. So she found herself sitting aside Hermione in the library whispering away about their withering friendships.

"Fix this," Y/N hissed.

"How am I supposed to fix this?" Hermione hissed back. "I don't even know why those two dimwits are fighting."

"Well go ask Ron."

"Why don't you go ask Harry?" 

"Because Harry doesn't know why Ron's angry, but he's too proud to ask," Y/N grumbled as she slammed her head onto the desk in despair.

Hermione scoffed, breathing out a harsh "Boys!" before speaking again. "Well, why don't you ask Ron?" 

"Hermione, Ron doesn't like me as much as he likes you. Besides, he's too much for me when he's all moody," Y/N whined.

"Fine, I'll ask Ron later," Hermione huffed, much to Y/N's relief. 

"This seat is taken?" A new, deeper voice interrupted. The two heads of hair flung over to look at the intruder.

Y/N's (E/C) eyes slowly widened as she saw just who was stationed next to their desk. She had to take a double-take and look to her friend who by the way, was entirely unaffected. Maybe the stress had gotten to her head because Hermione was not surprised one bit. Maybe Hermione really was involved with the famous Viktor Krum somehow.

But then the girl's eyes caught sight of a blonde head of hair passing by their table. Oh right! Their tutoring session. 

"Yeah this spot's free, I was just about to go," she yelped before collecting her stuff, scrambling out of her seat, and zooming away down the walkway down the side of the bookshelves without giving Hermione or Viktor the chance to react. The girl had a goal and she was going to get it no matter the cost.

Her eyes focused on the blur of black robes that she was silently leaving behind in her unspoken race. Finally nearing the end, the girl took a sharp turn and speed walked to the stack of books just in front of her. One step, two steps, three steps, Yes! Just in time!

The girl, now standing in front of the hideout of books stood proudly in front of Draco Malfoy as he glared down at the girl in displeasure. "Beat you," she singsonged before sticking her tongue out at the Slytherin and squeezing through the pile of books.

"What a dense child," Malfoy insulted as he followed Y/N into their meeting place. He couldn't help it. Even if he didn't mean it, the words just seemed to slip out of his mouth. Sure, he didn't actually think Y/N was dense or a child. Well maybe she acted like one sometimes, but it's strangely, endearing? Blimey! Draco couldn't be thinking nice things about a Gryffindor of all people!

"You're just mad I beat you to the spot today," she teased, setting her stuff down on the desk.

The blonde's face soured as he tried to erase the thought of ever liking someone like Y/N, even platonically. "Merlin, you Gryffindors are insufferable," he complained as he tossed his books onto the table and took a seat down at his usual spot, trying his best to sound annoyed rather than conflicted. 

Y/N shrugged, pulling out some notes she had jotted down in class and marked for her unwilling tutor to explain to her in addition to the plethora of assignments snape had decided to assign that week. When she finally looked up again, the girl realized something was wrong. Not necessarily wrong in the negative kind of way, because she could have cared less if the boy sitting in front of her fell out the window that very second, but a different kind of way.

Usually, Y/N would catch the boy staring bored out of the window, generally hating existing in the same plane as his partner. Today though, she had caught the blonde fiddling with something in his hands, turning it over his fingers and running a thumb over unreadable words. It was too large to be their currency but still small enough to be hidden in his hands and out of sight.

It wasn't just his fiddling though. The boy was happy. Too happy. He had that sickening smug look of victory over his face like he had just won the Triwizard tournament or pushed an unsuspecting first year to the side, knocking their books over. Y/N wouldn't have put it past the boy. He'd done it to her before.

"What's got you glowing today? Kick a puppy on your way here?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at Draco.

For a second, Y/N swore he almost looked offended, but she wasn't sure. The Slytherin hid his emotions too well sometimes, especially when it was anything but disdain. "None of your business," he snapped harshly. 

"Whatever," she sighed, holding her hands up in mock defeat. "Would you like to explain homework now or is it just going to magically answer itself?"

"If you weren't such a rubbish witch, maybe it would," he answered, insulting the girl.

"Hey!" She called out, eyebrows furrowed. "I'm a good witch," she defended indignantly. "Besides...There's nothing wrong with being like a muggle."

He scoffed. "There's not a single good thing about filthy mudbloods."

Ooh, girl, Y/N had never wanted to slap Draco Malfoy so hard in her life. She hadn't a clue how the conversation got to the topic of types of blood, but she was certainly going to end it. Angrily. "You hypocritical arse!" You know Wiliam Shakespeare is a muggle author," she stated.

"Rubbish book," he said.

"Liar," she spat. 

And just like that, all conversation died down. Both teens worked in a thick, heavy silence for a while. Y/N let her anger fester and grow as her mind began to overthink their argument and add more and more comebacks. How did she forget to bring up Hermione of all people? Oh wait, because she'd knew he'd call her a mudblood to her face, and Y/N despised hearing those words with a passion. 

The girl had been so frustrated about her lack of good arguments that she hadn't written a single thing onto her parchment. Frankly, it sort of looked like she hadn't a clue about the potions homework, which she didn't since Malfoy didn't want to help her in the slightest.

"So is it true?" Draco's sleazy voice finally spoke.

Y/N's head snapped up from her blank paper, momentarily forgetting she was even mad in the first place. "What's true?"

"That Precious Potter and his sidekick Weasley are finally fighting like a bunch of little girls," he drawled smugly, leaning back on his chair with his arms crossed.

"Shut up Malfoy, don't you have any friends to worry about? Stop butting into other people's problems you rat," she snapped, a look of disgust on her face.

The look of hurt crossed the boy's face again but quickly replaced itself with anger. In a flash, the boy was out of his seat with his books and stomping out of their spot. Oh Y/N had done it now. Maybe she was too mean. Did she perhaps hit a soft spot? 

Crumpling into a hunched over form, the girl held her head in her hands as she stared down at the paper. Did she actually hurt Malfoy's feelings? Did Malfoy even have feelings to begin with? Why did she feel so bad? Should she apologize? Would the blonde even come back to give her a chance to apologize? Should she even apologize in the first place?

With a heavy sigh, the girl collected her stuff and left. Y/N peered over to where she'd last seen Hermione only to find the seat devoid of the bushy-haired girl. Drat! More walking for Y/N then. After all, she still needed help with Snape's homework or he'd rip her to shreds the next time he saw her in class.

Y/N's intention of searching for her nerdy friend was sidetracked for a moment as she approached a turning point in the hallway. She'd yet to see who was talking, but she certainly heard them. Specifically, a girl's voice was whining while a very familiar Slytherin's voice pierced through the other's words.

"Does that mean you won't be busy on Wednesdays now?" The female voice wondered.

There was a pause. Y/N debated turning right back and suffering away in the library rather than getting caught by Malfoy and whomever the girl was.

"That's none of your business."

Malfoy sounded angrier than usual and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. Y/N gulped and began to take a step back when the unknown female made herself known by turning the corner. Pansy Parkinson's sharp eyes met Y/N's shocked ones and narrowed dangerously at the girl. 

Not a single word was exchanged as the brunette Slytherin walked past Y/N, harshly shoving into her shoulder and sending the Gryffindor's books and papers tumbling across the stone floor. In an entirely unnecessary move, the Slytherin stepped on one of the scattered papers as she continued on. Y/N didn't need to look back to know that Pansy was strolling casually away, having the time of her life. With her teeth gritted, she bent down to collect her materials from the dirty floor, cringing as her fingertips briefly brushed across the dirt-smudged paper.

Promptly, the very boy who'd been arguing with Y/N minutes earlier rounded the corner. His steel gaze instinctively fell to the girl crouched on the floor, picking up her fallen books. Having heard footsteps, Y/N looked up only to see Draco Malfoy looking down at her. She could have sworn his fingers twitched as if he were aching to be a gentleman for once and help her.

But Malfoy was still Malfoy: a prick. The boy looked away guiltily and walked away, his dazed eyes focused on the end of the corridor as if forcing himself to ignore the girl like it was their first year again.

"Whatever," Y/N huffed as she collected her last book and set off to look for much better company.

After what felt like an eternity of walking through the castle, Y/N finally arrived at the middle courtyard. Low and behold, her three friends were sitting casually on a stone bench chatting away about school work. And before you ask, no not the three friends composed of one ginger, one chosen one, and one academically inclined scholar. Though that description was exceedingly close as Ginny, Caroline, and Hermione were the occupants of the bench.

"Y/N I thought you were in the library," said Hermione as the girl approached. 

"It got a bit...boring." It pained her to say it but she had to. "Uh I need help on potions homework," she mumbled shyly, giving her Ravenclaw friend and Hermione a sad attempt at puppy dog eyes as she sat down next to Caroline.

"Sorry Y/N I've got rehearsal," the Ravenclaw apologized, holding up an oddly shaped French horn case. "Flitwick switched my horn," she sighed, tracing the additional three bells attached to the traditional singular bell.

"Rehearsal? But you guys never usually put on a performance."

"Apparently Dumbledore wants the band to play for some big event coming up," She replied.

Y/N tilted her head with confusion. Was the Triwizard tournament not enough?

As if the ginger girl had read Y/N's mind, she spoke up. "It's the event mum was talking about in the summer."

"Did you ever find out about that?" Hermione asked curiously.

Ginny shook her head no, sending locks of fiery red hair to and fro. "I guess we'll have to find out. Caroline, do you know?"

The brunette girl did nod her head yes, but with a sneaky smile. "Flitwick told us but I'm not supposed to tell anyone," she explained. "But I'm sure Y/N will hate it," she added before standing up and dusting herself off. Briskly, the bespeckled girl walked away. 

"Wait, Caroline! What do you mean I'll hate it?" 

But alas, the Ravenclaw was already in the corridor by that point, walking towards the band room. Y/N looked over to the rest of her friends now. "So have any of you got any ideas? What's something I hate?" Truthfully, the girl wasn't sure if she hated anything in the first place, aside from Bertie Bott's every flavor beans of course.

"What if it's spiders? I can already imagine Y/N screaming her arse off," Ginny giggled only to get a rough shove to her shoulders.

"No way," the older girl huffed.

"Ignore her Y/N. I'm sure it's not too bad," their vastly more mature friend assured.

"Oh yeah, Hermione can you help me with Potions?" 

The bushy-haired girl sighed and shook her head with disappointment. "I told you not to wait till the last minute to do your homework! It's due tomorrow! You should've done it yesterday."

"I know I know, but I was busy hanging out with Harry."

"Fine," Hermione huffed as she stood up from the bench. Y/N's eyes widened for a second as she watched her friend stand.

"Woah Woah Woah, where are you going?" 

"I'm getting my potions book and homework. Just wait here."

"Oh wait Hermione I'll come too. Someone's got to keep that loser Ron company," Ginny called out as she left the bench and followed Hermione out of the courtyard, leaving Y/N alone.

The girl, feeling quite awkward and out of place, looked around for a second, taking in all the other students conversing with their friends. Though there was no one around to express her emotions to, Y/N presented a wonky, tight cheeked smile to...well the tree she supposed. With her hands settled on the edge of the bench, the girl swung her legs a bit childishly, musing to herself about how the bottom of her shoes just barely grazed the tip of the grass growing wildly out of the ground.

She'd also let her mind wander off to her two friends. Truthfully, Y/N was scared. Scared that her group of friends would never be the same again. Scared Ron would start resenting her for choosing to hang out with Harry rather than him, though the ginger and the girl had never been very close in the first place. Her tight-lipped smile slowly faded from her face as she lost herself in her thoughts.

Then the girl caught something move out of the corner of her eye. Not something far away, but up close, right next to her. Looking up from the grass, the girl was surprised to find a certain brunette haired Hufflepuff sitting down next to her on the bench.

"Hey," he greeted softly.

"Hey," she returned stiffly. What was he doing here? Cedric's never willing approached Y/N before. Oh, wait, what a dimwit Y/N was. There was a reason that she decided to sit in this very courtyard in the first place.

"You looked lonely," said Cedric.

Oh, Merlin! What if the boy thought she was some loner with no friends now?! Worse, what if he thought she was stalking him because he hung out here? Y/N was quick to scramble to find the words to explain herself. "Oh well, I-, you see, uh. Hermione's just gone to get her books," she mumbled sheepishly.

"I see," he paused, looking up at the bright sky distantly. "I know it may be a bit of a personal question, but are you alright? You looked a bit down."

Y/N's eyebrows rose with shock. "Oh no, not at all. It's just that well..." She looked down at her feet, wondering if the boy would even like to hear such a foolish issue. "My friends, Harry and Ron. They're fighting, and I'm not sure how to go about it."

"Ahh, do you know why?" From Y/N's view, Cedric's pretty sky blue eyes seemed to flick over to the girl.

She shuddered, feeling self-conscious about her side profile. Still, she kept her eyes on the blades of grass peeking out under her shoes. "I don't."

"When'd they start fighting?"

"I think after Harry was announced as the Triwizard champion." 

"And there it is," he chirped decisively as if coming to a conclusion.

"What do you mean?" Y/N asked as she finally looked at her companion. Her eyebrows were furrowed with confusion and her eyes were squinting as if she would find the answer by literally looking for it.

"I think your friend is jealous," Cedric stated.

Come to think of it, that did make sense. A whole lot of sense really. It surprised the girl that she didn't think of it sooner. "Merlin," she breathed out. "Over a bloody tournament! How stupid can boys get?!" She let out under her breath to no one in particular.

"I hope you don't think I'm stupid. Seeing as I am participating in the tournament after all," Cedric joked lightheartedly. Y/N's face paled. Bloody hell! She didn't mean to insult the boy or anything. Oh no no no! This was bad, really bad.

The girl shook her hands vigorously in front of her as if she were shooing away the suggestion. "No, I-, that's not what I meant! I mean like Harry and Ron can be idiots sometimes. Well, most of the time, but I didn't mean they were stupid cause they're boys. Just that you know, as boys, they're complete dimwits, ya know?" 

"Don't worry Y/N, I know," he chuckled.

"Right, yeah, I knew you knew, definitely," she said awkwardly, looking away as her ears turned red in embarrassment. Merlin, Y/N probably seemed so stupid right now. Their conversation seemed to die out at that moment and the girl was completely desperate to find a way out of the silence. Maybe it was as awkward for him as it was for her. 

What to say? What to do? Both Harry and Cedric were competing in the Triwizard tournament, right? So then what would she talk about with Harry? "How'd your interview go? Or uh wand weighing ceremony? " She finally asked.

The Hufflepuff boy seemed to perk up, either happy to be talking about the tournament or maybe talking to Y/N at all. "Yeah, our reporter was a bit, interesting."

"Interesting?" The girl tilted her head out of habit, reminding the blue-eyed boy of a confused puppy dog.

"Her name's Rita Skeeter. Asked a bunch of strange questions," he added.

Y/N would have replied if not for her bushy-haired friend approaching her and Cedric with a stack of books held tightly against her chest. It was almost comedic really, the girl stumbling into the courtyard with her books nearly toppling into a mess on the grass as they spilled over her arms. In fact, the witch nearly dropped her belongings as she caught sight of Y/N and Cedric sitting beside one another and conversing.

Cedric too noticed Hermione's entrance and sprung into action, leaving the seat and hurrying over to help the girl carry her books. "Here, let me help," he offered, relieving some heavy books from the girl's load. In return, Hermione muttered a small thanks and set her books down onto the stone bench, which Cedric also did.

"I'll leave you two to it then, I don't want to bother," the boy said as he nodded to the two girls.

"I guess I'll keep an eye for your article in the Daily Prophet then," Y/N added cheerily. 

Cedric flashed her one of his dashing smiles and gave her a soft pat on the shoulder before walking back to where he had been previously. His Hufflepuff friends seemed to cheer the brunette on as he approached. Y/N, noticing this, looked to her friend for some explaining. Hermione, who usually had all the answers, simply shrugged.

"You didn't move us here because you liked the ambiance did you?" Hermione asked despite knowing the answer.

Y/N held back a smile as she thought about why they'd come to this spot to spend their time. "I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered, picking up one of Hermione's excessive books to scan through with zero interest. Truthfully, the book was to hide her ecstatically goofy, lovestruck grin from Hermione, who would've said the book did no good.

~

True to her word, the next morning, the girl kept an eye out for the piece written by this "Rita Skeeter" that Cedric had told her about. It had arrived as they all sat quietly eating their breakfast, still without much talking. Y/N hadn't yet graduated back to sitting with the twins, which still frustrated them more for lack of time with their best friend. Ron was mostly quiet despite having moved to set next to Seamus and Harry hadn't muttered a peep. Still, even sitting at the same table caused tension between the two boys.

The emerald-eyed boy did break his silence when a prim little copy of that morning's newspaper dropped briskly in front of his lunch. Both Y/N and Harry stared at the rolled-up parchment in front of them warily. "So...Are you gonna read it?"

The boy shook his head of messy, wild black hair. "I don't even want to think of it," he firmly stated, though Y/N could see the curiosity seeping out of the boy plain as day. He did tell her about the strange interviews he'd been subjected to, which gave the girl the idea that maybe Rita Skeeter wasn't the most respectable author. Especially not after Harry had told the girl about the reporter's uncalled for comment about the broom cupboard.

Eventually, though, Harry did indulge in his sparkling curiosity that night. Not a single soul reported seeing the boy pick up the paper and reading through it, but according to Harry, it was tossed into the fireplace seconds before Sirius Black emerged from that very pile of firewood burning away. Naturally, Y/N was the only person the boy had expelled his secrets to as she tended to sit on information and never act on it unless in an extremely dire situation.

Other than the girls dancing around the subject of the horribly inaccurate article and Ron's moodiness, life wore on as normal. Sure, Y/N wasn't Ron and she knew that Harry missed his friend dearly, but they got along perfectly, even forming a new routine in lieu of their old, discarded routine.

There wasn't anything special about it. In fact, their new routine was just the remnants of what the whole group had done before Ron's departure. Only, Ron was away and Hermione tended to flit between Harry and Ron every once in a while to keep the flimsy balance between her friendships. It was usually only Harry and Y/N who sat across from each other on the plush red couch, basking in the warm glow of the fireplace.

Tonight was a bit different. Harry and Y/N had gotten too distracted in practicing a new spell to the point where they'd disregarded all other homework-namely Professor Binn's who's assignments were gladly put off to the very last second in procrastination. 

Long into the night, Hermione had decided to call it a day and warn the two in her motherly fashion that they should too. Naturally, Harry merely shrugged and Y/N whined about having homework to complete.

And that was why the two friends were still perched across from one another on the sofa, scribbling away at the individual parchments about the effects of the goblin rebellion. Clearly, both students struggled to remember a single thing about the subject except for the basic "goblin guillotine bad."

At some point, when the dying fire was just a few flickering ashes, Y/N looked up from her parchment and found that she was staring directly into emerald eyes. Harry set his book down, and Y/N followed suit. "Agree to copy Hermione's work?" She suggested.

"Agreed."

Despite technically being done with their homework for the day, neither teenager felt like leaving their seats. What more could they ask for? Y/N wouldn't leave now that her butt had sunk comfortably into the red cushion, and Harry was at ease with his surroundings for once.

The girl being ever so bored picked up a spare bit of parchment and began to doodle away on it.

"What are you drawing?" Harry asked curiously.

"Look!" Y/N replied enthusiastically as she showed her friend a badly illustrated mess of lines that seemed to form some monstrosity of a winged ave. 

"A blob?" 

The girl gasped, feeling just the tiniest bit of offense. "This is a bird! I can't believe you don't even recognize Hedwig," she huffed.

"Well Sorry," Harry replied, unintentionally giving away a sassy undertone.

"Shut up before I start doodling you too," she threatened, pointing her quill at the boy. 

It went quiet for a bit as Harry stared into the flickering flames in the thought of his godfather and Y/N...Well, what was Y/N doing? At the moment, carrying out her threat. She'd found that she wasn't the best at depicting winged creatures so she decided on drawing something she could see: Harry Potter.

Every few seconds, (E/C) eyes would flick up from the parchment paper to study a different part of the green-eyed boy. From his untamable black hair to the tiny scars on his cheek from their misadventures years prior, to the undone tie hanging around his neck, Y/N had captured it all. Or at least she tried to. After all, no matter how many times she observed the boy, she would not become a good artist. Either way, the beauty that was Harry Potter would not be captured that easily.

After about the fiftieth glance, Harry had finally noticed, like the oblivious boy he was. "What?" he asked, a bit self-conscious but also a bit annoyed by the constant attack of glances. 

"Nothing," the girl squeaked, holding her parchment close to her chest to protect it.

"Lemme see," he grunted as he leaned over and wrestled the paper out of Y/N's hands.

His emerald eyes looked down at the paper, then back at Y/N, then back down, and up at his friend again. Y/N's (E/C) eyes looked at the back of the paper, then at Harry, then down at the paper, and back at her friend again.

"I do not look like that," he announced indignantly, pointing at the shoddily drawn almost stick figure-like portrayal of a boy with a lightning scar on his forehead and broomstick in his hand.

"Yes you do," Y/N protested.

"How?"

"How can you not see it, Harry?" She asked seriously. "It looks just like you. You can see the ghost of your past in your eyes!" She squealed, devolving into a fit of unstoppable laughter and drowning out the groan of her friend. 

"I can't believe you ('ve done this)," Harry groaned, folding up the piece of paper and stuffing it away in his robe pockets as if that action would erase the ghosts of his past. 

But then, Y/N's fun was interrupted when the portrait entrance creaked open. The teenagers froze like deer caught in headlights. Sure they weren't exactly breaking any rules, but two students staying out past curfew on a couch together in front of a dim fire was highly suspicious. 

The atmosphere tensed as Harry and Y/N caught sight of the boy who had just walked through the portrait hole. 

"Ron," Y/N quietly greeted.

"Y/N," Ron stiffly answered.

"Ron," Harry said begrudgingly.

"Harry," Ron nearly spat before walking up the stairs to the dormitory and disappearing out of sight. 

The remaining teens sat in silence for a few seconds, feeling that the mood had been soured tremendously. Y/N decided that she was no longer comfortable. "Night Harry," she bid as she collected her study materials and left the boy alone by the dying fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the super delayed update, I had a lot of school work and a super crazy teacher. And like to sum up the drama, he got so bad to the point where we ended up reporting him to school administration so there's that. I was also supposed to finish this chapter on my bday cuz I'd made time to, but that teacher published grades and lowered my grade to an F so I cried for like an hour and went to sleep (sorry bout that lol). (Oh yeah Happy Lunar New Year!!)


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